Well, that'll do nicely for starters. Shame about the Russian goal, but then Fabregas managed to go on and preserve the three-goal gap that was the least that the scoreline needed to reflect.
Empics
Torres beams as Villa gets the opener
In the end, Spain showed no signs of the midfield conundrum worrying their press following, and no signs at all of spurning the chances offered up to them by the naivety of the Russian defence, or midfield - take your pick.
Then again the Russians did have a decent spell in the first half when they hit the post, and their flurry of attacks in the final ten minutes (which yielded their consolation goal) did show that the Spanish defence can get flustered if put under sustained pressure. It is also poor in the air, but the Russians basically failed to notice. The Greeks and Swedes, if they were watching, will have taken note of the static positioning of both Capdevila and Ramos for the Russian goal, but hey, let's celebrate the positives.
Spain's use of two forwards completely flummoxed Russia, although the tactic had been somewhat on the cards. Presumably Gus Hiddink had been reading the papers. And exactly as predicted, his central defence seemed so preoccupied with Torres (because they'd seen him more on the telly - according to Semak).
David Villa, exactly as he has done for Valencia (when circumstances have permitted him) hangs behind the striker and both provides him and waits to see what is provided. Torres knew exactly where Villa was after bundling Kolodin into a mistake on the edge of his area and Villa knew exactly what Torres was going to do, which helps, as they say.
Things are looking good. The first hat-trick of the championships, and for the record, the first hat-trick from a Spanish player in a major tournament since Michel managed the feat in 1990 - and the first from anybody since 2000 (Patrick Kluivert, for the anoraks).
Then again, Villa is making a habit of this kind of opening gesture, scoring two of the four goals that Spain banged past Ukraine in the World Cup opener in Germany. It's not as if he's an unknown quality, but his goals and general performance will have put a few euros onto his price tag for the late summer sales.
As a kid, Villa was one of those considered too small, even though he always did well for his local club Langreo, in Asturias. The story goes, when he was 15, Oviedo asked him over for a trial, but the bus that he caught delivered him late and the club dismissed him as an unreliable youngster. Their story is (now) that they thought he was too small, but that's not Villa's version of the tale.
Sporting de Gijón came in for him, and the rest, as they say... Chelsea were making noises about him not so long ago, and may now start to make them again. Or how about joining Torres at Liverpool? An interesting thought.
But you feel good for him, so miserable a time has he had at Valencia this season, through no fault of his own. Playing for Spain has come as some sort of relief for him.
Looking at his three goals, the beauty of them was that they were all different and each one of them illustrated the multi-faceted qualities that he possesses.
The first was simply a question of timing his run, so that Torres would see him in time. The second was exquisite, as was the pass from Iniesta that found him. Villa stayed level with the Russian line until the vital moment when his sprint into space enabled the pass from Iniesta - a pass so perfect that Villa only had to poke the ball into the net first time.
The pass invited the single touch and sold the goalkeeper completely. The third was different again, chasing forward from deep to receive an angled pass from Fabregas then tricking his way inside one defender and finishing intelligently, low at the near post.
He made the fourth too, running forward on the counter from deep again, this time with Torres on the bench, waiting for support then flicking the ball up and over the defence for Xavi to volley viciously goalwards, the keeper save and Fabregas follow up with a header for his first goal for Spain.
GettyImages
Job done: Fabregas and Casillas thank the fans after the final whistle.
Sweden, now buoyed by their defeat of the reigning champions, may prove a sterner test, if only because they have a greater collection of more experienced heads. Spain have been guilty of not following up on a great start several times in the past, but Sweden will have to get much tighter on their midfield orchestra, which was tuned to perfection against Russia but allowed to run riot.
The question inevitably arises as to what extent Russia made them look good, or to what extent Spain made Russia look poor, but Spain's midfield was given the run of the playground. In La Liga teams tend to sit deep and hit the attacking midfielders when they venture into the last third - a tactic Russia seemed to have been drilled to play.
Well, they sat deep, but they didn't really tackle. Spain's movement off the ball was so dizzying that they simply stood and watched. Xavi was magnificent, doing everything right, changing the direction of the play at will. Senna was solid, and played the ball out of defence quickly and thoughtfully.
Iniesta, whose pale face and fragile looks make him look like an actor from a Horror Zone 'B' movie, is simply deadly if you allow him too much time and space in the final third. For Spain's second goal, he was surrounded by no less than six Russian players, and yet none of them managed to get in a challenge. By the time they'd thought about it, the ball was at Villa's feet and in the net.
Silva worked hard on the left, but was perhaps the least effective of the group. The plus for Spain on the left side was that Capdevila was more adventurous than on previous occasions, and actually set up the first two goals. His instinctive first-time pass set Torres away for the first, and he also initiated the move for the second, advancing some distance before playing the ball in to Iniesta. He was actually the more effective of the full-backs, Ramos having a strangely muted game at right-back.
All in all, this was a slick performance, with the three 'fs' (fast flowing football) much in evidence. The Spanish press will be drooling for the rest of the week, as will the European press, who fancy Spain more highly than do the Spanish. But folks have drooled before, particularly in Germany, only to see Spain fall at the first tough hurdle. They'll be hoping this isn't a case of déjà vu.
Spain played very well indeed, and are more experienced than on previous occasions, despite having the youngest average squad behind Russia - so that's the baby game out of the way. But Sweden have some tougher old campaigners in their squad, who may lack pace but who will not permit the Spanish such freedom on Saturday.
Whatever, it's looking good. Even Luis Aragonés permitted himself a smile. He won't be getting carried away, but for four days at least, he's back in the nation's good books.
