Euro 2008

Euro 2008 Group D - quotes

13:50 GMT, Sun 2 Dec 2007
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Spain's national soccer team coach Luis Aragones, Greece's national soccer team coach Otto Rehhagel, Russia's national soccer team coach Guus Hiddink and Sweden's national soccer team coach Lars Lagerback (L-R) pose with the trophy after the draw for the UEFA Euro 2008 soccer finals in Lucerne December 2, 2007. Greece, Sweden, Spain and Russia  were drawn in Group D  for the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland. (EURO 2008 PREVIEW)   REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (Switzerland)

LUCERNE, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Reaction from teams drawn to face each other in Group D of the Euro 2008 finals on Sunday:

GREECE

Coach Otto Rehhagel:

"2004 is in the past, it doesn't count any longer, now we have 2008 and we focus on that. We are all starting from scratch.

"I won't speculate on who is favourite for the group. For me the important thing is that my players are sound, in order that I can bring them here safely.

"With Werder Bremen I also played a lot of games against Russian teams, Spartak Moscow in the time of the Soviet Union.

"They are very good players, very good with the ball, but like we said before, all games are important because we are competing for the Euro Championship, and all teams here are first class teams."

SPAIN

Coach Luis Aragones:

"I still think our time might have come. It's my job to think that, of course, but I believe that everything we went through to get here will serve us well. We have a group of players who have worked hard and deserve it.

"Personally, I think it's a manageable group but we have to keep our desire to win under control, respect our rivals and show that we're superior on the field."

RUSSIA

Coach Guus Hiddink:

"We, the Russian team, the Russian Federation, are very happy to be on this stage next year. Everybody here will be very competitive.

"I think Greece surprised in 2004 but deserved to win at the end in the last championships and they will be very eager to go on to the second round. So it will be very competitive and there's no underdog in the group, regarding Greece."

"If you read the press, then everyone wants us to be in their group, then these three are the luckiest that they have us. But at the end we'll see.

"As Mr Rehhagel said, we all start from scratch and you can have surprises in this group as well.

"We are very happy to be here, but that's not enough for me. Let's try to surprise as well in this group."

SWEDEN

Coach Lars Lagerback:

"We know we are in a tough group and we will do our best. We will see how it will go.

"I think Spain is one of the absolutely best teams in Europe so it's always a challenge to play teams like that and it's a good thing, I think, that we had the experience of these two matches in qualification. (Reporting by Sam Cage and Kevin Fylan; Editing by Justin Palmer)

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