Baptism of fire for Spain's Saez

Spanish coach Inaki Saez faces a tough debut as his side face a partisan Greek crowd at Athens' Apostolos Nikolaidis stadium in Saturday's opening Euro 2004 qualifier.

Saez took over on July 12 from Jose-Antonio Camacho, who stepped down after the World Cup where Spain were unlucky to exit against co-hosts South Korea in the quarter-finals.

Saez sent out a young side for an August 21 1-1 draw against Hungary in a Budapest friendly but the Greek test will be a far stiffer assignment against a side led by German disciplinarian Otto Rehhagel.

Spain have handed the captaincy to Real Madrid striker Raul and he and Barcelona playmaker Gaizka Mendieta and Deportivo La Coruna forward Juan Carlos Valeron, will form an experienced backbone of the side, while Betis star Joaquin hopes to bring his dribbling skills to bear with good effect.

Raul is likely to partner Real Madrid clubmate Fernando Morientes in attack - though the latter's domestic future is in doubt following the arrival of Ronaldo.

At the back, Michel Salgado of Real and Fernando Varela of Betis come in for injured duo Carlos Puyol of Barcelona and Pablo Orbaiz of Athletic Bilbao.

Salgado, 26, has 18 caps but did not travel to the World Cup while Varela, 23, stands by for his debut.

Rehhagel will send out a side made up largely of players from Panathinaikos and AEK Athens in the knowledge that the Greeks have never beaten Spain in five attempts.

As an incentive the Greek sports ministry has, according to the Spanish media, offered a 340,000 euro (340,000 US) bonus for bagging three points in the two countries' first meeting in 16 years.