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Spain will seek only victory in the first European Championship Group A match against Russia. This was stated by national team striker Fernando Morientes.
Spaniards in this championship will try to get rid of the shadow of failure that has been haunting them in recent international tournaments. Morientes said: "On paper, a draw in the first match seems like a good result, but we cannot aim for just a draw in the first match."
"That would not be a good start to the championship," continued the 28-year-old Spaniard. "We consider ourselves one of the stronger participants in the tournament and we want to go far, so we must aim only for victory against Russia, even though they have a really strong team, maybe a bit unsettled, but made up of very capable players."
After the match with Russia, Spain will also face Greece and the host Portugal in Group A.
"It would be very good to play the match against Portugal after securing a place in the quarterfinals," Morientes said about the final group stage matches. "Not only because Portugal is very strong, but also because they will have strong support from their fans."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the barricade, the mood in the Russian national team is somewhat different. In this European Championship, both main central defenders, Viktor Onopko and Sergei Ignashevich, will not be able to help due to injuries. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether defenders Roman Sharonov and Dmitry Sennikov will be able to play against Spain.
