Russia coach Guss Hiddink has admitted he is surprised at his teams success at Euro 2008, as they prepare to meet Spain in Thursday's quarter-final in Vienna.

I'm surprised by the way the players have quickly learned some international principles of the game," Hiddink told the BBC.

"I'm not surprised by the skill, I knew that was tremendous. They can control, pass - they are skilful players."

Hiddink has called for his young side to go out and enjoy the game against the fancied Spanish.

It's those rare moments in the sport where you have to enjoy it. When you can enjoy it, normally you play at your best.

"We don't pressurise ourselves, we just want to play football."

The Dutch maestro has admitted he would have much rather played his attacking style against Italy.

"I watched (the Spain-Italy quarter-final) and you think, I'd really like the Italians because tactically you can work against them."

"It is a team where lots of people stay in one place behind the ball, but that leaves space elsewhere where you can play."

"It didn't happen, that's a shame. Spain is a similar team to Russia - they want to play football. But if they go 1-0 up, as we've seen, they drop back and play on the counterattack."

Russian midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov  is desperate to avenge the 4-1 loss the unfancied side sufferd to Spain in the group stages.

"I wanted to play the Spanish," said Bilyaletdinov. "The whole team made mistakes against Spain and now we've fixed them.

"It's not a group game, it's for real. It's a stronger atmosphere, you have to concentrate and not make mistakes."

"Everybody is talking about us winning the tournament but to do this we must win the next two games, two very difficult games." 

UEFA EURO 2008 SEMI-FINAL: Russia v Spain
Date: Thu 26 June Kick-off: 1945 BST Venue: Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna

Last update : 24-06-2008 14:48

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