The Russian manager told a press conference that "of course" Spain are the favourites as they meet his men. However, he was defiant in his admission.
"Tomorrow Spain are favourites, but what we want to do is break the streak of the favourites," he pronounced.
Adding that his side were felling "well", he stated that reports of a confrontation of sorts between Sychov and another squad member at training was being blown out of proportion.
"Yesterday's was a gentle training session, but sometimes these clashes occur between peers," he said.
"This morning we reviewed the status of all our players and they're all well.
"Tomorrow we'll face a powerful team, and many of our players will make their major tournament debut.
"But I want to see a Russian team that steps out to play football, because if we play with our style we can make things hard for Spain. I don't want to see a team with fear."
Hiddink, of course, has previous when it comes to Spain. His Korean side eliminated the Furia in 2002 in the World Cup.
"They're different circumstances, different teams and different selectors," he said, dismissing the relevance.
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