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Ernst Happel, Vienna
Thursday 26 June 2008 - 20.45CET (20.45 local time)

David Villa and Fernando Torres may be the most dynamic front pairing at UEFA EURO 2008™, but Spain coach Luis Aragonés wants them to add another trick to their repertoire by defending from the front in Thursday’s semi-final.

Specific task

Although the pre-match excitement has been about the attacking potential on show in this repeat of the Group D opener which produced five goals, Aragonés chose to underline three times what he requires from his strike partnership against Guus Hiddink’s team. “I want to see them pressing the central defenders, not just shadowing them,” he said. “I want proper, high-energy pressing and I want them to rob the ball from Russia’s defenders as early as possible.” Aragonés added: “I’ve rarely seen a team break from box to box as quickly and in as high numbers as Russia.”

‘Deeply proud’

Aragonés will hope the fact Russia central defender Denis Kolodin, along with midfielder Dmitri Torbinski, is suspended will unsettle a defence which has only conceded once in three victories since letting in four against Spain. It is a remarkable turnaround, one even Hiddink admits to being amazed by. “That 4-1 defeat was the first game in a big tournament for many of my players,” he said. “I’m amazed how much progress we’ve made since. That day we fell into the big trap of giving presents to our opponents, but after a couple of analytical sessions, then work in training, everything was fixed. I’m deeply proud of three things our progress should achieve: Putting Russia back in its place within European football, showing the world modern football can be beautiful and taking this group of players on a long footballing journey from where they began.”

Interesting record

Losing in international semi-finals is a thorn in Hiddink’s side – his Netherlands and Korea Republic teams lost in the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-finals respectively – although both Russia and Spain have powerful records at this stage. Since becoming an independent nation, this is Russia’s best performance at a UEFA European Championship but as part of the Soviet Union they won four semi-finals in the competition, only falling to Italy in 1968 on the toss of a coin after a 0-0 draw. Spain have won their two challenges at this stage, en route to winning the tournament in 1964 and then again in 1984 on penalties against Denmark. “You can win, you can lose but if you promote the concept of defending well and attacking with conviction when you have the ball then this is how modern football must be played,” Hiddink said.

Colour change

It is precisely that offensive style which Aragonés wants Spain to block and then profit from. “We need to nullify their virtues and then punish their weaknesses. We won’t man-mark Andrei Arshavin, he’s simply one of five top-class players Russia possess. We won’t change our style.” There will, however, be a change in the colour of Spain’s shirts from their famous red to yellow. “I don’t like this new colour, personally,” said the superstitious 69-year-old. “But so long as I don’t have to wear it, the players can. Anyway, it’s not yellow, it’s mustard.” With that the Wise Man of Hortaleza left his audience chuckling and headed for his date with destiny.

Russia ready to hit their peak

Having got so close to the top of the mountain, Russia are determined to reach the peak according to goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. As they prepare to meet Spain in the semi-finals it is an apt metaphor for a tournament held in these Alpine nations as it is has been an uphill struggle for Russia since losing their opening game to Luis Aragonés’s side.

‘We want more’

Russia looked likely to return home early after crashing 4-1 in Innsbruck, but just over two weeks later, after successive wins against Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands, they meet Spain for a second time confident of reaching the final. “Three of the goals [in the first game against Spain] were down to our mistakes,” Akinfeev said. “We allowed classy strikers such as Fernando Torres and David Villa space. Everyone knows if you give them space they’ll happily breeze past you. We pulled ourselves together and have been good since. Nobody is giving up. We want more.

‘Fist’

“I wouldn’t have believed we would go on to win three matches, especially given the feelings we had after the first game. Our thoughts were catastrophic. We had lost the first game 4-1, what could we do? Psychology is key at a time like that. A team can fall apart, like Greece did after losing their opening game. They didn’t do anything at this tournament, while we were able to come together, like a fist, and fight our way out.”

‘Flowing football’

Akinfeev is happy Spain beat Italy in the quarter-finals to set up a rematch for the Group D rivals. “Italy didn’t impress me with their results or their performances. They prefer to stay back and almost never go forward. They don’t have the same flowing and bright football as Spain. It’s more interesting for me to play Spain. They have top-class players in every position. You can only admire and learn from them because they play very well.”

‘Reach the peak’

Russia eased past the Netherlands in extra time to reach the last four, while Spain were pushed to the limit by the Azzurri, only advancing after penalties. Russia have never contested a shoot-out in a major competition and Akinfeev does not want to start now. “We shouldn’t be afraid of anything,” he said. “We have almost made it to the top of the mountain, but we want to reach the peak. Neither Spain nor us want penalties. It’s not good for the nerves and only puts more grey hair on our heads.”

‘Different keepers’

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas was the spot-kick hero for Spain, but though some have drawn parallels between the Real Madrid CF star and his PFC CSKA Moskva counterpart, Akinfeev prefers to keep comparisons to a minimum. “We’re two different goalkeepers,” he said. “Maybe at some point our careers seemed similar as we both started at a young age at the highest level, but he’s Spanish and I’m Russian. I am Akinfeev, he is Casillas. There is no duel. Whoever concedes fewer goals goes to the final.” Despite being so close to it, Akinfeev refuses to think about Sunday 29 June just yet. “I’m trying not to think too much about it. Of course you always want more, but you have to prove it on the pitch. If we play well, why shouldn’t we take this chance? Sometimes opportunities like this only come your way once in a lifetime.”

Casillas calls on Spain to seize chance

Iker Casillas is an intensely busy man at the moment, training ferociously hard, chatting over tactics with Luis Aragonés, signing hundreds of autographs and captaining Spain to their first UEFA European Championship semi-final for 24 years. But when the goalkeeper’s head hits the pillow each night, his mind runs free.

Sweet dreams

“Everyone has that ten-minute spell when you’re trying to get to sleep and your mind drifts – that’s when I dream of lifting this trophy,” he says quietly. “Your brain naturally turns to what lies ahead of you and dreaming is free. Having already made history, it’s on all our minds that this is not enough and we want to grasp the silverware, but to do that we first have to beat Russia again.” In Sunday’s quarter-final against Italy, Casillas saved the third and fourth shoot-out penalties of his international career as Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale joined Kevin Kilbane and David Connolly as the Spaniard’s victims. But defeating the Republic of Ireland on penalties at the 2002 FIFA World Cup ultimately meant nothing to Spain as they subsequently lost to Korea Republic – coached by a gentleman of world football named Guus Hiddink. Not only is the Dutchman in charge of Spain’s next opponents but he also, coincidentally, gave Casillas his very first taste of a major international fixture.

Penalty test

“Hiddink and I were at Real Madrid [CF] at the same time but because I was so young I really only coincided with him twice,” recalled the No1. “He actually took me to the [1998 European/South American Cup] final against [CR] Vasco de Gama as a substitute, when I was 17 and still in the youth squad.” Moving on to Thursday’s match, Casillas added: “It’s a bit of a trap to be playing Hiddink’s side again because I’d hate it if people thought this is an easy match simply because we won 4-1 [in the Group D encounter]. We’ve seen all of their games since then and Russia have impressed, especially against Holland.” It is not only because Hiddink’s South Korea emerged the victors last time he and Spain competed at penalties that Casillas wants a win within the regulation 90 minutes in Vienna. “Good though it was against Italy I always prefer to win on the pitch, during normal time,” he said. “That way everyone, not least me, doesn’t have to fray their nerves!”

Russian admiration

Part of what ‘San Iker’, as the Madrid fans know him, admires about Russia is how much they remind him of Spain: “It’s going to be a beautiful match because these two sides are both committed to attack, they share a football philosophy – Russia have impressed me.” Although his driving goal is simply to lead Spain to glory next Sunday there is an impish part of him which regrets Spain are not now facing the Netherlands. “If you think how many Dutchmen we have at Madrid, the dressing-room banter would have been fantastic if we’d beaten them,” he joked. But this is the man whom Aragonés classified as a “ten” in every department and the seriousness is quick to return: “The key for us is to manage the ball and control the first half. Both teams had to play extra time to qualify and if we keep possession you have to run less – I want to see our boys making the Russians chase possession. This is a unique opportunity for Spain and we must seize our destiny.”