Spain forget 4-1 win and concentrate on revived Russia

By Simon Baskett

NEUSTIFT, Austria (Reuters) - Spain have put their 4-1 win over Russia in the group stage out of their minds and expect a far tougher challenge from Guus Hiddink's side in their Euro 2008 semi-final on Thursday.

"That opening 4-1 defeat was a big blow to them, but they were the better side in each of their next three games," midfielder Xavi told a news conference on Tuesday.

"They have grown in confidence so much that they are practically favourites to win the competition now."

The Barcelona player, who is the key link in the Spanish midfield, admitted that the scoreline against Russia had been misleading.

"In that first game against them we had a little bit of luck on the second goal to go 2-0 up and that allowed us to play on the counter-attack," he said.

"We certainly haven't become over-confident. There is no danger of that with this team nor with this coach. We got lucky in the penalties against Italy but in this game you have to make your own luck."

Although Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin has received the plaudits for his outstanding performances since returning from a two-match ban, Xavi said Spain would have to be on their guard against the whole side.

"There has been a lot of talk about Arshavin, but I think Russia is a very powerful team in general. They've got a lot of players that aren't known that well in Europe but are very good like (striker Roman) Pavlyuchenko and (Yuri) Zhirkov on the left side of midfield.