Valerón pushing for place

Russia beaten
Spain won their opening Group A game against Russia on Saturday thanks to Valerón's second-half strike, moments after he had come on as a substitute, and the RC Deportivo La Coruña attacking midfield player could now keep his place at the expense of Fernando Morientes.

'One goal'
"Every player is important and it doesn't matter who is in the first team," Valerón said. "We only have one goal - to win matches." Sáez is also considering starting Xabi Alonso in central midfield alongside David Albelda, with Rubén Baraja the man to make way as he did in the second half against Russia.

Confidence high
Confidence in the Spain camp is high, but after losing at home to Greece in their qualifying campaign - a defeat which forced Sáez's men into a play-off with Norway - no one is taken anything for granted. "I don't want to choose an opponent for the quarter-finals. We are concentrating solely on the next game," Valerón said.

Revenge mission
Winger Joseba Etxeberria feels Spain are ready to make amends for that reverse. "We know almost everything about Greece," he said. "We are very excited about this match because we want to avenge the defeat in qualifying. We have to be patient and let our quality tell as we will almost certainly qualify for the next round if we beat Greece. However, we are ambitious and want to finish first."

Surprise success
Greece pulled off the upset of the tournament so far by overcoming hosts Portugal in their Group A opener, and after seeing France come from behind to shock England in added time on Sunday night, defender Raúl Bravo has warned against complacency.

On guard
"Football is always a surprise," said the left-back. "France's victory is useful for us because it showed that we cannot be relaxed at any moment." Russia take on Portugal in Wednesday's other Group A encounter.