Aragones stays silent on selection for Spain's opener against Russia

Debate in Spain is raging over who out of Xabi Alonso, Ruben de la Red and Marcos Senna should be the one to partner Barcelona's Xavi Hernandez in the holding midfield role.  

Villarreal man Senna appears to be winning the majority of the votes in the Spanish press ahead of kick-off, but Spain's Brazilian-born player insists even he still does not know who will get the nod. 

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"I won't be surprised by who gets to start, as the competition in Spain is very deep," Senna said.  

"Competition is good for the group. The three of us (Senna, Alonso, De La Red) are well prepared. 

"There's some great competition and Luis hasn't told me I'm going to start, but in this side we can all consider ourselves as starters."  

Aragones would not be drawn on his selection, preferring instead to concentrate on opponents Russia.  

"It's difficult for Spain to come out of a game without having scored, but Russia throw nine men behind he ball," he said.  

However, the Spain coach hinted that both Fernando Torres and David Villa may start up front to break the Russians down, despite the fact that the Valencia forward is nursing a thigh injury which kept him out of the friendly with the United States last week. 

"We have Villa and Torres, who are very quick, who have quality and an eye for goal. So it'll be difficult for us to come out of the game without scoring," Aragones added.

Spain's only other injury worry is Andres Iniesta who is still recovering from food poisoning.

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But Aragones did not appear too concerned about the Barcelona player's fitness.  

He said: "Iniesta is weaker than the others because of his stomach bug, or whatever it was, but that's logical."  

A major concern for Russia is that they will be without forward duo Andrei Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebniak.  

The heroes of Zenit St Petersburg's UEFA Cup run miss out through suspension and injury, respectively, with Pogrebniak having to withdraw from the tournament completely after succumbing to a knee problem.  

Their Zenit team-mate Konstantin Zyrianov will now take up responsibility for driving the Russian attack, a job he appears to be confident of doing after describing Spain as "a team with no stars".  

"For me Spain is a good team, but I wouldn't say any more than that," he told a press conference prior to the game.   "The big star for Spain is Raul, but he's not in the squad. Of the rest of them, I don't see any big stars among them."  

On Torres Zyrianov added: "He's a good forward, but nothing more."  

Russia captain Sergei Semak was more convinced by the threat posed by the Liverpool forward.  

"There is no doubt that the brightest star of this past season is Fernando Torres," he said. 

"The way he played this season commands respect. I really admire him, although the Spanish have a number of strong individuals."  

Semak, who will likely captain the side, also lamented the loss of Arshavin and Pogrebniak, but insisted that the other players in the squad would work extra hard to make up for their loss.  

"The players who take the field will do everything possible to replace those who unfortunately cannot play," he said.