Innsbruck, Austria: David Villa scored a hat-trick on Tuesday to give Spain a 4-1 win over Russia, confirming they are one of the favorites at the European Championship.
Fernando Torres fed the streaking Villa for a right-footed goal in the 20th minute. The Valencia striker later slid Andres Iniesta's slick pass under goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev for his second in the 44th.
Villa completed his memorable Group D game after dribbling around Roman Shirokov in the 74th to slot past Akinfeev with his right foot.
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored one for Russia with a header in the 86th, and Cesc Fabregas added a fourth for the Spanish in injury time.
''Three goals, a hat-trick with the national team - it's started well,'' Villa said. ''We're off to a good start. But there are still two games to go.''
Russia had their chances in a rainy, high-tempo first half with Igor Semshov shooting wide after going in alone on goal in the 17th and Konstantin Zyryanov hitting the post after the Spanish defense failed to clear six minutes later.
Spain, who have won seven straight matches and are riding a 17-game unbeaten streak, opened their second straight Euro campaign with a win over the Russians - the Spanish won 1-0 in Portugal four years ago.
Villa showed no effects from the right thigh injury picked up a week ago as he took his international goal tally to 17 from 32 games - two more than Torres, who has played 50 times.
But without left back Joan Capdevila, the first two goals would not have been possible.
The Villarreal defender found Torres down the left with space.
In a one-on-one situation with defender Denis Kolodin, the Liverpool striker worked around the Dynamo Moscow defender to feed Villa for a calmly struck goal.
Capdevila led the breakout on the second goal, too, finding Iniesta with a crossfield pass.
Iniesta left Yuri Zhirkov flat-footed as the agile FC Barcelona player moved around him to feed Villa, who had slipped between two defenders and alone in front of Akinfeev for another crisp finish with his right foot.
Russia will need to rally in their final two games against defending champion Greece and Sweden to avoid dropping out after the group stage for the fourth straight time.
Coach Guus Hiddink has never failed to lead his teams out of the group phase at four prior major championships.
Spain's opener allowed them to find their rhythm after a bruising start. The Russians were looking to slow Spain's quick touch passing with physical play and it worked inside 10 minutes aside from a couple of misses by Torres and Villa from up close.
It were Russia who were able to put together the slick midfield passes early on and Semshov struck wide after being played into the area by Aleksandr Anyukuv. Dmitri Sychev's centering pass drifted through the area before landing at Zyryanov, who swiped it off the near post.
Iniesta was surrounded by white shirts but spotted Villa slipping in to beat the offside trap and put Spain in control.
The Russians started to dominate possession early in the second half and had a couple of chances on goal, including from substitute Vladimir Bystrov and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
Hiddink had to juggle his lineup with playmakers Pavel Pogrebnyak with Andrei Arshavin missing. The striker's responsibility fell on Pavlyuchenko, who also shot wide in the 81st.
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