Russia v Spain Preview

Russia and Spain meet for the second time at Euro 2008 with the stakes raised substantially and a place in the final against Germany just 90 minutes away.

The opening match in Group D saw the two go head-to-head, with Luis Aragones' men romping to a 4-1 victory thanks to David Villa's superb hat-trick.

But Russia are a very different proposition from that clash just 16 days ago, most notably because of the mesmeric displays of playmaker Andrei Arshavin.

The Zenit St Petersburg ace was suspended for the opening two fixtures of the tournament, but his return has revitalised Russia and caused a clamour for his services among Europe's leading clubs.

Arshavin has even earned comparisons with the legendary Pele and Michel Platini for the manner in which he has orchestrated victories over Sweden and Holland to reach the last four of the tournament.

Wily coach Guus Hiddink has bolstered his own reputation with Russia's progress, but has twice seen his teams fall at the semi-final hurdle on the international stage.

The Dutchman was at the helm of his home country as they were beaten by Brazil on penalties in the 1998 World Cup, before losing out to Germany at the same stage in 2002 during his stint with South Korea.

Duo suspended



Hiddink is missing two players for the game in Vienna as defender Denis Kolodin and attacking midfielder Dmitri Torbinski will not feature after receiving their second yellow cards of the tournament in the win over the Dutch.

Spain laid to rest two hoodoos of their own with their quarter-final victory against Italy, their first against the Azzurri in 88 years in competitive action, with the shoot-out triumph ending a series of five defeats in the last eight of international tournaments.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas will be hoping for a starting berth after coming off the bench to score the winning penalty against Italy, but Aragones may well stick with Xavi.

In-demand Valencia striker Villa and Liverpool ace Fernando Torres will again be handed the task of leading Spain's attack, but Aragones also expects them to defend from the front.

He said: "I want to see them pressing the central defenders, not just shadowing them. I want proper, high-energy pressing and I want them to rob the ball from Russia's defenders as early as possible."

Villa leads the Euro 2008 goalscoring charts with four to his name, but Russia's Roman Pavlyuchenko is just one adrift on three, as is Germany striker Lukas Podolski.

Any players who have already been booked in the tournament go into the semi-final safe in the knowledge that another yellow card will not rule them out of the final, after Uefa changed the rules to expunge previous cautions from the record.