Any hopes Sweden had of making it to the Euro 2008 quarter-finals were quashed Wednesday by a powerful Russian side, the 2-0 winners of the Group D game played in Innsbruck.

The Russians join group winners Spain — who came from behind to beat the defending champions Greece 2-1 in Salzburg — in the round of the last eight.

Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin scored the goals that put the Russians through, while Ruben de la Red and Daniel Guiza scored to give Spain a come-back victory against defending champions Greece, who had gone ahead through Angelos Charisteas.

In Salzburg, Spain fielded virtually a reserve side, but the players showed their spirit and quality by coming from behind to beat troubled Greece.

2004 hero Charisteas gave Greece the lead, only for de la Red and Guiza to turn the tables with second-half goals, their first for Spain.

Their third defeat means that Greece bow out as the poorest-ever defending champions in the history of the European Championship.

It was a dismal way for veteran Greek keeper Antonis Nikopolidis to finish his international career, especially because he was partly to blame for Spain’s equalizer.

Spain finish top of Group D with nine points. Russia finish second with six points, Sweden third with three.

Spain manager Luis Aragones rested all of his first-teamers, with his mind on Sunday’s quarter-final clash against Italy.

His best player was Xabi Alonso, who four times came close to scoring with breathtaking long drives.

“We worked hard for our win tonight,” said Alonso at the end.

The Liverpool midfielder added, “Italy will be very complicated rivals, because many times they start poorly but get better as a tournament progresses.”

Scores:

RUSSIA 2 – 0 SWEDEN

SPAIN 2 – 1 GREECE