Russia Looking to Cause Upset at Euro 2008

Russia - the major surprise of the Euro 2008 tournament - is looking to cause another major upset when they face Spain in tonight's semi-final at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria.

Guus Hiddink's men made it to this stage with a stunning 3-1 extra-time quarter-final victory over Holland.  They also beat Sweden and Greece in the group stages. Counting against them, however is the 4-1 defeat they suffered in the tournament opener against tonight's opponent Spain.

There is precedent to suggest Russia could go all the way.  Greece came from nowhere to win Euro 2004, beating much higher-regarded teams such as France and Portugal along the way.  Denmark won the European championships in a similar surprise. 

For their part Spain is looking irrestible.  They went through the group stage winning all three games, and although they looked a little shaky in the quarter-finals they still managed to knock of World Cup-holders Italy on penalties. 

The bookmakers do regard the Russians as a chance to pull of the upset.  Both Sportingbet UK and Ladbrokes are offering odds of 12/5 on a Russian victory, while Spain is quoted at evens and 11/10 by the two companies respectively. 

Other interesting offers on tonight's game from Sportingbet include first goalscorer, with Spain's David Villa, who scored a hat-trick against Russia in the group stage, rightly considered the standout favorite at 9/2. Teammate Fernando Torres follows on 5/1.

Head-to-head bets have been offered on a whole host of things such as distance covered and fouls committed.  For example, Sergei Ignashevich is 7/10 at Sportingbet to commit more fouls than his Spanish opponent Carlos Puyol, 21/10.

The winner of this game faces Germany in the final on Sunday. The Germans won through 3-2 from last night's game, despite being outplayed for most of the match by a surprising Turkish opponent missing nine players through injury and suspension.

The final will take place on Sunday night in Vienna.