Innsbruck: With a thumping 4-1 win over Russia and a hat-trick from striker David Villa, Spain could hardly have got their Euro 2008 campaign off to a better start.
Luis Aragones's side top Group D, ahead of Sweden who claimed a more modest 2-0 win over defending champions Greece in their match, and appear to be on course for a place in the quarterfinals.
But Spain have been here before. They beat Russia 1-0 in their opening match at Euro 2004 before exiting the tournament after the group stage and crushed Ukraine 4-0 in the last World Cup only to lose to France in the last 16.
Euphoria
Spain have not punched their weight generally in big tournaments, with their only real successes coming when they won the European Championship on home soil in 1964 and lost to France in the final 20 years later.
It was hardly surprising, then, that both Aragones and his players resisted the temptation to get carried away by the euphoria of their fans after notching up the biggest win of the first-round matches.
"It looks as if this was an easy win, but it wasn't like that," said the Spain coach. "I thought we were a bit lucky, actually. We scored on the break and just when they were putting us under heavy pressure we got the second."
Midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who weighed in with Spain's fourth goal, agreed. "Scoring two goals before halftime helped us a lot.
"Russia are a very strong team and I'm not sure if 4-1 is a fair result because they started very well and put us under a lot of pressure."
Sharp passes
The humility from the players is reassuring as was the way the team adapted their usual patient, short passing game to cope with the Russians.
All four goals came from slickly worked counter-attacks and, unlike the warm-up matches, Villa and Fernando Torres received quick service which gave them room to run at the opposition defence.
Left back Joan Capdevila had a hand in the first two goals with sharp passes from deep and once they were ahead the midfield was content to look for further chances to hit the Russians on the break.
Villa, meanwhile, confirmed his status as one of Europe's most lethal finishers with his coolly taken hat-trick and took his tally for the national side to 17 goals in 32 games.
