Villa hits a hat-trick and Torres is terrific as Spain get off to a flyer against Russia

No wonder Chelsea are prepared to pay almost anything to secure his services.

No wonder the Spaniards think this might be their year.

David Villa will dominate the headlines in Spain after a terrific hat-trick, but here it was Fernando Torres who delivered the masterclass in attacking football. 

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Villa is too quick and strong for the Russian defence as he scores his third

Torres who possesses the talent that could well make him the player of this tournament.

He was magnificent, delivering an electric performance under stormy Alpine skies with pace and skill that proved a nightmare for Russia's defenders.

Had Denis Kolodin been given the choice, he probably would have opted for being struck by lightning before running into the Liverpool striker.

Kolodin was destroyed by Torres, winning his 50th cap last night, not least in the breathtaking build-up to Villa's 20th-minute opener.

No sooner had Joan Capdevila released a ball down the left than Torres was off in rapid pursuit, accelerating away from the Russia centre half before turning inside him and guiding a pass into the path of his advancing team-mate.

A delightfully simple finish followed and the pair hugged before collapsing together to the ground. Torres had little to do with Villa's second goal before the interval.

Low blow: Fabregas' diving header wraps up the win

That owed as much to the defencesplitting pass from Andres Iniesta as a beautifully executed first-time shot. But by then the Russians were so terrified of Torres they had lost sight of the more immediate threat.

Along with Holland, the Spanish have the look of a team that could go all the way here.

They have a brilliant partnership in Torres and Villa and they have a midfield that, in the form of Iniesta and Xavi in particular, went some way to showing why Luis Aragones felt he could start without Cesc Fabregas.

Defensively they appeared vulnerable - not least at right back, where Sergio Ramos struggled - and had Andrei Arshavin not been missing through suspension, the technically excellent Russians might have caused more problems.

Russia scored four minutes before the end when Roman Pavlyuchenko struck from a corner and in the first half a member of the UEFA Cupwinning Zenit St Petersburg side - Konstantin Zyryanov - drove against a post.

What Spain also have, however, is tremendous strength in depth.

Mission accomplished: Fabregas (left), Xavi and Villa (right) celebrate victory

After 54 minutes, Aragones decided, somewhat arrogantly, that the points were secure and started to turn his attention to Spain's second game, against Sweden on Saturday.

First he took off his best player, Torres making way for Fabregas, and then he removed Iniesta and sent on the defensive-minded Xabi Alonso for David Silva.

That a further two goals followed underlined Spain's considerable quality.

First Villa proved that he is far more than a poacher by doing to Roman Shirokov what Torres had done to Kolodin, then Fabregas added a fourth in stoppage time with a diving header.

Villa celebrated his hat-trick by running to Torres.

"I dedicate my goals to him," said Villa. "He made my first two goals with his pass and by creating space, so it was because of him I scored a hat-trick."

Afterwards, Guus Hiddink was furious. He might have guided Russia to victory against England last year, but this amounted to an embarrassment in front of a watching Roman Abramovich.

"The fourth goal was on a level with some school teams," he fumed.

Spain, though, were superb, which made Arsene Wenger's comments before the game appear all the more inappropriate.

He was hugely critical of the tournament so far, suggesting "the quality hasn't been at the level we expected".

After watching Torres and Villa, he might now take a rather more positive view.