Spain 4 Russia 1ONE DEPARTS early on in almost every European Championship and it's a long time since any arrived at its intended destination. But their supporters seemed oblivious to historical precedent as the Spanish bandwagon for Euro 2008 left Innsbruck last night, driven by David Villa and heading east in the direction of Vienna.

Conditions were far from ideal at the New Tivoli stadium, where a thunderstorm raged through most of the game, but on a handful of occasions the football played by Luis Aragones' side was as beautiful as the view from the main stand down the Alpine valley where the city lies.

Villa's hat-trick paved the way to what was, in the end, a comfortable victory, and the 26-year-old striker, now with 10 goals in 12 European Championship games, also had a prominent part in the fourth.

The scoreline may have been a little harsh given the effort put in by the Russians but their energy easily outstripped most of their other assets, and their relative inexperience, as shown in a succession of errors, was something the Spanish were happy to punish.

Though the Russians were poor in front of goal, the number of chances they created will at least have encouraged other sides facing Spain in these finals. Villa's finishing will, however, surely terrify the same opponents.

"It's vital to win the first game," he said later, "and I'm delighted to have gotten off to a scoring start."

His manager admitted, meanwhile, that Spain had enjoyed a hint of good fortune.

"I'm very happy with the result," said Aragones, "We played well but we were lucky because it was only after we went 1-0 up that we started to do damage and play good football."

He was also quick to dismiss the notion that qualification was now assured: "The thing about this tournament is that you can lose to anyone because all the best teams are here except Argentina and Brazil."

Russia's manager, Guus Hiddink, was damning about his side's efforts, blaming "naivety" and "stupid mistakes" for the defeat.

The goal just before half-time, he felt, had left his side in a position where they had little option but to play "unsafe".

"It's a young team and you could see their inexperience out there but I've said to them the four looks big compared to the one but we have a matter of hours now to become a little more streetwise and if we can do that then a big improvement is certainly possible," said Hiddink.

Such improvement will surely be needed, for this game was pretty much decided by half-time.

The Russians, to be fair, did not look bad going forward. Dmitri Sychev, Igor Semshov and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov provided a three-pronged support to the lone striker, Roman Pavluchenko, and some of their passing was good enough to leave Spanish defenders chasing their tails.

Critically, though, there was nobody to provide the finish when chances came their way, most notably halfway into the first period when Sychev's low, angled cross from just beyond one post was sent crashing off the other by Konstantin Zyryanov after several others in a packed area had passed up the opportunity to have a crack.

At the other end it was a different story; at times Hiddink's defence looked utterly at sea and the Spanish finishing was clinical - at least until the victory had been secured and a spirit of adventure crept in.

And to think there had been concern before the game that this Spanish side's tendency toward elaboration in the build-up would mean a gradual retreat by opponents that would in turn deprive Fernando Torres of space into which to run.

Instead, the Spanish midfield capitalised on a steady stream of successful interventions to move the ball swiftly forward; and Torres, partnered brilliantly by the fit-again Villa, was quickly able to make his mark, the 24-year-old matching his marker, Denis Kolodin, for power while beating him for pace before squaring for the Valencia striker to tap home.

Villa coolly slipped the ball past Igor Akinfeev for the second just short of half-time after a quite brilliant through ball by Andres Iniesta, who had turned Yuri Zhirkov inside out before pushing the ball through four Russians to release his team-mate.

The striker did most of the work himself for the third, muscling his way inside Roman Shirokov before cutting inside and firing home.

All the while, there were chances for the Russians in a fast and free-flowing game.

Vladimir Bystrov was guilty of a particularly wasteful header shortly after the break, and Bilyaletdinov and Pavlyuchenko went close with mid-range shots.

The latter finally headed home four minutes from time after Shirokov had flicked on a corner from the right, but their defence looked a mess again for Spain's fourth, Cesc Fàbregas heading home his first international goal after Villa had fed Xavi, whose powerful strike had been parried.

All aboard the Spanish bus for the final, then - but fasten the safety belts securely and just don't be too surprised if the wheels come off again.

SPAIN:Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Marchena, Puyol, Capdevila, Silva (Alonso 77), Senna, Xavi, Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 63), Villa, Torres (Fàbregas 54). Subs not used: Palop, Albiol, Fernando Navarro, Juanito, Arbeloa, De la Red, Guiza, Sergio Garcia, Reina.

RUSSIA:Akinfeev, Aniukov, Shirokov, Kolodin, Zhirkov, Sychev (Bystrov 46), Zyryanov, Semak, Semshov (Torbinsky 57), Bilyaletdinov, Pavluchenko, Bystrov (Adamov 70). Subs not used: Gabulov, Vasili Berezutsky, Yanbaev, Ignashevich, Alexei Berezutsky, Ivanov, Saenko, Malafeev.

Referee:Konrad Plautz (Austria).