Wednesday was a day of friendlies in Europe. Russia weren’t in action on the night, as they're working up a sweat at a training camp in Turkey. But their rivals Spain, Sweden and Greece were all playing.

In Malaga Spain edged World Cup finalists France 1-0, via a Juan Capdevila strike. The Villarreal fullback capitalised on a mix-up in the French defence ten minutes from time.

The win extends Spain's unbeaten home record to 13 games.

Another of Russia’s opponents, Sweden were held to a scoreless draw in Turkey, while Greece were 2-1 winners in a clash with Finland 

In the pick of the action elsewhere World Cup champions Italy showed their class with a clinical 3-1 win over Portugal.

Fabio Capello made a winning start as manager of England. The Italian steered his side to a 2-1 home win over Switzerland

Meanwhile, the team which helped secure Russia their Euro-2008 berth, Croatia, were thrashed at home to Holland – 3-0.

In other games, Cyprus and Ukraine finished 1-1, Germany made short work of Austria with a 3-0 win, and Robinho scored the only goal of the game in Dublin in Brazil's win over managerless Ireland.