Alonso calls on Spain to deliver

Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso has called on his side to live up to their billing at UEFA EURO 2008™ and not let the pressure to succeed distract them from their goal.

Bad memories
Speaking from his team's training camp in Madrid, the Liverpool FC player pointed to the painful example of a 3-1 defeat to France in the round of 16 at the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a lesson he and his team-mates must learn from. "We know we are capable of beating any team on any given day but we also know it's important we take our time during games, we mustn't sell ourselves short. In Germany it was a pity the draw we had when we came out of the group but in games of that nature either you go on or you're out."

Right results
Spain play Peru in Huelva on Saturday night and will follow that with a final warm-up match against the United States in Santander on 4 June. From there, it will be on to Austria to prepare for a 10 June Group D opener against Russia followed by games against Sweden and Greece. Alonso admits that opening the tournament with the right results is paramount. "We'll be giving all the games our utmost attention but in particular the first two because these will be the matches that can make the difference. If we can get two good results it will be very positive for us."

Winning goalscorer
In a break from training, Luis Aragonés and his players were brought to meet the Spanish UEFA European Championship winning squad of 1964 and the man who scored the winning goal against Russia in the final that year, Marcelino Martínez, said he had his fingers crossed for the men bound for Austria and Switzerland. "I hope this squad can bring the trophy back to Spain," he said.