Russians stun Dutch to reach last four

By Alexandra Hudson

VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia caused a major upset when they beat Netherlands 3-1 in extra time in Basel on Saturday to clinch the third Euro 2008 semi-final spot and send home the orange-clad army of Dutch fans who had lit up the tournament.

Netherlands had looked to be Euro 2008 favorites ahead of the game after a tremendous run in the group stage, which saw them humble 2006 World Cup champions Italy and runners-up France before seeing off Romania with a second-string side.

But Russia outclassed the 1988 European champions with Roman Pavlyuchenko scoring his third goal of the tournament early in the second half and then Dmitry Torbinsky and Andrei Arshavin gave Russia the victory they richly deserved.

Ruud van Nistelrooy had pulled one back for the Netherlands in the 86th minute to take the game to extra time.

Russia, who lost their first group game of the tournament 4-1 to Spain, now face either Italy or the Spaniards who will meet in Vienna on Sunday.

Arshavin, who was suspended for Russia's first two group matches, has made all the difference since his return for the team's final group game against Sweden, in which he scored one of Russia's two goals.

The boyish-looking 27-year-old played another superb match on Saturday and sobbed with over-flowing emotion as he left the field.

"It's a great happiness for me and for the whole of Russia," he said.

Arshavin was dismissed for kicking an Andorra player in a qualifier, an offence that lost him the team captaincy and earned him a two-game ban in this tournament.

DUTCH DEFECTOR

Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink had warned before the match he would aim to be a "big traitor" and he looked the part as he celebrated his team's win with the gusto of any Russian.

"The coach said he expected the Dutch would play very aggressively against us. But it turned out that they ran out of breath before we did. At the end the better Dutchman -- our trainer -- won," said Arshavin.

Hiddink was himself in charge of Netherlands for four years from 1994 and took them to the 1998 World Cup semi-finals.

He gave goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar his Netherlands debut in 1995, but he was the man whose team ended the 37-year-old's international career.

Van der Sar was playing in his sixth and last major tournament. His first three ended in penalty shoot-out defeats -- at Euro 96, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000.