Villa's 3 goals lift Spain over Russia

Villa's 3 goals lift Spain over Russia
The Associated Press , Innsbruck, Austria Wed, 06/11/2008 1:05 AM Sports
David Villa scored three times Tuesday in Spain’s resounding 4-1 victory over Russia, a win that confirmed the Spaniards as a team to beat at the European Championship.
After completing his hat trick in a steady rain, Villa saw teammate Cesc Fabregas also score. Russia’s goal came from Roman Pavlyuchenko long after things were decided. Villa scored the first hat trick in the tournament since 2000.
Fernando Torres fed the streaking Villa for a right-footed shot in the 20th minute. The striker slid Andres Iniesta’s slick pass under goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev for his second in the 44th.
Villa completed his memorable game after dribbling around Roman Shirokov in the 74th to shoot past Akinfeev with his right foot. He matched the achievement of Patrick Kluivert of the Netherlands on June 25, 2000 against Yugoslavia, the last hat trick at Euros.
Pavlyuchenko scored with a header in the 86th, and Fabregas got his goal in injury time in a Group D game.
Despite the slick field and poor conditions, the Spaniards looked superb with their footwork and passing. They threatened often in winning their seventh straight match, and are riding a 17-game unbeaten streak.
Villa showed no effects from a right thigh injury picked up a week ago as he increased his international goal total to 17 in 32 games. But without left back Joan Capdevila, the first two goals would not have been possible.
Capdevila found Torres down the left side for a one-on-one with defender Denis Kolodin. Torres worked around Kolodin to feed Villa for an easy goal.
Then Capdevila led the breakout on the second goal, finding Iniesta with a crossfield pass. Iniesta left Yuri Zhirkov flat-footed to feed Villa, who had slipped between two defenders for another crisp finish.(***) From www.thejakartapost.com