Raul upbeat about Spain's chances

Spain captain Raul was in upbeat mood about his side's chances at Euro 2004 as the squad made its final preparations before departing for Portugal on Sunday.

"Physically we are in optimum shape, we have been training really well and now we have to reflect that in the tournament itself," the Real Madrid striker told a news conference at the team's training base in Las Rozas on Friday.

"Apart from the injury to Michel (Salgado) we've had a very positive time here and we really believe that if we do things well we can beat any team in Portugal."

"Obviously if we don't do that we'll be on our way home, but there's no doubt that we will be doing everything we can to fight for Spain and for Spanish football."

Raul said the side's experience of having to earn their place at Euro 2004 via the playoffs had brought the squad together and the strength of the team spirit had become evident during their week-long training camp.

"It is clear that we have a very important group of players here who have become even more united as a result of having to go through the difficult situation of a playoff against Norway at the end of last year. We are all confident that we can do well."

The Spain skipper added that despite their determination to achieve some long-awaited success at a major tournament, the squad were determined to keep their minds focused on their opening match against Russia on June 12.

"I really hope we can achieve something big this time, but at the moment we are just concentrating on the match against Russia because our performance in that game could end up conditioning the rest of the tournament."

"Our first objective is to make the quarter-finals, but we all hope that that will be just the first step on our way to a major success."

Spain will complete the first stage of their preparations with a final warm-up match against Andorra in the Madrid suburb of Getafe on Saturday before leaving for their Euro 2004 base near Braga in the north of Portugal the following day.

They have been drawn alongside Russia, Greece and hosts Portugal in Group A.