Thursday Sep 29 2005 22:43
Match-winner Juan Carlos Valeron thought Spain deserved their narrow 1-0 victory against Russia in their opening Euro 2004 Group A game.
Inaki Seaz's team deserved their win as they dominated a Russia side for long periods.
Spain had started brightly but after Russia had enjoyed their best spell of the match just before half-time it needed an inspired substitution on the hour to seal victory.
Saez introduced Valeron to the action and with his first touch the Deportivo La Coruna star coolly slotted home what proved to be the winner.
Valeron admitted the Spaniards had had to dig in to secure all three points when he said after the match: "I thought we were unlucky not to score in the first half but in the end we kept our heads and getting that goal proved to be vital.
"It was quite lucky because it was the first ball I actually touched in the game and it managed to go in.
"We certainly had to suffer a lot to get this victory but in general I thought we played a good game."
Russian midfielder Dmitry Alenichev thought nerves had contributed to their defeat.
He said: "I think most of our players didn't feel confident that we could hold down Spain for the whole game.
"Our defeat was mainly due to our nerves. We held out for nearly 60 minutes but in the last 20-30 minutes Spain had a huge edge over us."
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