Russia’s coach Guus Hiddink has asked his players to play freely and express themselves in their opening game of Euro 2008 against Spain.

Spain have been touted by many as favourites to win the competition, including Hiddink himself.

Hiddink said, “If we all play football, if we try to give Spain a hard time, I will be happy. I don't want to see a team that is afraid to play, as was the case in past tournaments. We've done our best, we've trained well, and we're here to give Spain a good fight.”

“The Spanish team is a very powerful team indeed, a lot of my players are coming up to their first major tournament, others have played in major tournaments, but relatively few of them have”.

“So of course they are lacking experience in major tournaments, with all the pressure that that entails, so I'm looking forward to seeing a Russian team doing it's best to play football, and that's important.”

Hiddink wants to end the trend of favourites winning their matches these European Championships. “We hope that we can break a little bit the rhythm of the previous games that have been played in these Euros, because more or less the favourites have won their first game,” said Hiddink.

Hiddink had already masterminded South Korea to a shock victory over Spain in the 2000 FIFA world cup, and Russia fans will be hoping he can do the same with their team on Tuesday.