Spain win meaningless match PLUS a preview of their quarter final

Spain ended the group stages of Euro 2008 with another win – this time over the fallen champions Greece.

Luis Aragones’ side won 2-1, coming from behind to seal three more points.

Charisteas had opened the scoring for Greece, after 42 minutes.

Charisteas heads Greece into the lead

However the second-string Spain side, with many first team players rested ahead of the knockout phase, were eager to put up a fight. This came to fruition after De La Red equalised after about an hour.

Ruben De La Red after equalising for Spain after 61 minutes

It was up to David Guiza to finish the job off late, with an 88th minute winner to attain another deserved win.

David Guiza celebrates his late headed winner

This sets up a titanic quarter final clash with Italy. The two sides go into the knockout stages with hugely different bouts of form.

Spain have came in rampant, winning all 3 group games, with Italy somewhat stuttering into the last 8 having been demolished by Holland, drawing with Romania (only thanks to a last minute penalty save from Buffon) before overcoming a lacklustre French side in their last group game to achieve qualification.

Spain’s good form is epitomised by their, at-times, breathtaking forward play. They smashed 4 past the Russians, with David Villa netting a hattrick, while also recording a total of 4 more against Sweden and Greece, in 2-1 wins.

Such an attacking threat would worry Italy at the best of times – but with Barzagli now out of the tournament, alongside previous casualty Cannavaro, the italian defence is looking more shaky than normal.