Andrey Arshavin

Arsenal forward aiming for Euro 2012 semi finals

Thursday, June 7, 2012
1:17 PM

Andrey Arshavin is hoping to reach the final four with Russia

Arsenal’s Russian forward Andrey Arshavin is targeting another semi final spot at Euro 2012.

Russia were beaten 3-0 by Spain in the final four at the 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland and Arshavin, who is on loan at Zenit St Petersburg, is looking to repeat the feat.

“Getting to the semi-finals would be a success. because then we won’t have lowered the bar from last time; and also because to get there we will have to beat one of the best teams; Germany, Netherlands or Portugal,” Arshavin told Sport Express.

“Spain were simply stronger than us [in 2008]. Not only stronger than us, but than all the other teams in the tournament. We held them for 70 minutes but when you just do that; chase the ball against a machine like that, you just run out of steam.”

Russia beat Italy, who were rocked by the latest match fixing scandal to affect Serie A, 3-0 in a pre-tournament friendly and this did not come as a surprise to Arshavin and his team-mates.

“We’ve known for a long time that we’re capable of playing at that level. Most of the players started to feel confident in their ability when first CSKA and then Zenit won the Uefa Cup.

“We all know very well how to prepare and get that sort of result. Plus, [Guus] Hiddink from his first days with the team brought us conviction that there is no difference between us and the other Europeans, we are one and the same.”