Not all plane sailing for Spain

Published: 24 Jun 2012 - 16:47:01

Spain should be seen as slight favourites to see off neighbours Portugal in their semi-final - yet a factor weighing against them could be travel weariness.

Having based themselves in Gniewino, northern Poland, throughout - their group games were in the northern port of Gdansk - the Spanish have had to go on their travels as their quarter-final against France was some 900km away in Donetsk, Ukraine and they will return there Wednesday to face the Portuguese.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque says such things are a factor. "We got back from the game (against France) very tired. We are going to recuperate well (but) this 48 hours difference between games compared with our rivals is a bit of a handicap. We suffered in the heat and that's tough on players at this time of year," said Del Bosque.