Striker David Villa made a strong claim for tournament Golden Boot scoring a hat-trick against Russia to give Spain a perfect start to the European football championship, while Greece complicated the defence of their title by losing to Sweden in the last matches of the first round of games in the group stage of the tournament on June 10.

Villa and his partner in Spain's attack, Fernando Torres, combined magnificently for the first goal in the 20th minute, when Torres' run drew Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev out of position before he cut the ball back to Villa, who had the simplest of tap-ins into an open net.

With two minutes left before half-time, Spain doubled their advantage, this time Iniesta feeding Villa the decisive pass.

Russia refused to capitulate and did continue to attack in search of an equalizer, showcasing Spain's defensive weaknesses, only for Villa to put the outcome beyond any doubt following his third goal for the night in the 72th minute, after receiving a superb pass from Cesc Fabregas.

Russia managed to pull one goal back with Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring with a header from a corner four minutes from time. But Spain was not done and added a fourth through a diving header from Fabregas in injury time, who put in the rebound of Xavi's shot that was parried by Akinfeev, for the final score - 4:1.

Defending champions Greece and Sweden played out a cagey affair to start their own campaigns in the earlier match of the evening. Both teams put in disjointed performance in the first half, with numerous fouls preventing the game settling down.

It took just one moment of individual brilliance from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 66th minute, who sent a rocket of a shot, leaving the experienced Antonios Nikopolidis no chance to even deflect the pass. Ibrahimovic was hauled off right away.

Five minutes later, the game was effectively over, when defender Mikael Nilsson, who plays in Greece for Panathinaikos, scored a second goal with the ball pinballing between himself, Nikopolidis and a Greek defender before trickling over the goal line. The result would remain unchanged, 2:0.

In the nest round of matches in group D, Spain take on Sweden and Greece play Russia on June 14.