Grp D Spain 4-1 Russia Innsbruck - Tivoli Neu
David Villa scored a fantastic hattrick to destroy Russia in the first match of group D. One of the more interesting part of Villa’s performance was his link up play with Torres. They linked up very well and I would love to see him in a Liverpool shirt. I think it is very unlikely that we will sign him. He is probably out of our financial reach, but I can hope for it. I think we should try to sign Sergio Aguero from Atletico Madrid, when everyone is trying to go after Villa. He is much younger and one of the brightest stars of world football. Fabregas scored the fourth goal for Spain. Pavluchenko scored the consolation goal for Russia. I think Spain should be beware and do not read much into their performance. Spain started the 2006 world cup in the same dynamic, but they were out of the world cup in first knock out stage against France. I thought Torres also looked lively and he had couple of good chances to score the goal. He was not able to take those chances and he would have buried them on another day. It was an entertaining match and Spain kept attacking on Russian goal. I think Spanish defense need some improvement to have any chance of winning the Euro 2008. The defense can prove the liability in the end for Spain.

Man of the Match: David Villa (Spain)


Grp D Greece 0-2 Sweden Salzburg - EM Stadion Wals-Siezenheim
Greek came to this game with the same plan used by them in Euro 2004. As I said in my preview of Euro 2008, they will find it hard to play their 1-0 football this time around. The match was 0-0 by half time and Sweden were attacking on Greek, but I thought Greece had better chances than Swedes. Even though, they were defensive for the most part. Ibrahimovic and Hansson scored for Sweden to end the Greek resistance. I thought it was deserved victory for Sweden. I think Greece will find it very hard to get out of this group after the current defeat. They need a miracle in my opinion.

Man of the Match: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)