Hiddink: Russians superior in all areas

Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink claimed his side were better than Holland "in all components of the game" after dumping his countrymen out of Euro 2008.

Hiddink's team bounced back from conceding a late equaliser to Ruud van Nistelrooy - the Real Madrid striker forcing extra time by cancelling out Roman Pavlyuchenko's opener - to run out 3-1 winners after goals from substitute Dmitri Torbinski and man of the match Andrei Arshavin.

"I'm extremely proud of the achievement of my team. I have not experienced that very much in my career," said the coach.

"I think the team was superior technically in the control in passing but also in physical parts superior to the Dutch team, which is tremendous because I know how they prepare tactically and physically.

"I don't mean it (superior) as an arrogant word but we were better than the opponents in all components of the game."

Hiddink admitted he regretted accepting being labelled a 'traitor' in Saturday's build-up.

"In my concept, the word 'traitor' is a very bad word," he said. "But let's have it considered a little bit more light.

"Of course, in my position I would have loved to outclass the Dutch team and if we win - an unexpected win - then I'm very happy. But the word 'traitor' was not used by me. I don't like the word."

Holland coach Marco Van Basten was at a loss to explain how his team ran out of steam.

"We were unlucky because yesterday Arjen Robben had an injury so we couldn't start with him and then we didn't start well," said the 43-year-old. "We didn't play football as we did in the first three matches. I don't know why. They were a little bit nervous, I think."