Spain have already guaranteed themselves top spot in Group D, while defending champions Greece have no chance of reaching the quarter-finals. Aragones made 11 changes for Spain's final group game against Saudia Arabia in the 2006 World Cup and his side were beaten by France in the first knockout stage.

But Aragones said: "It did not influence anything to have played the replacements against Saudi Arabia. Spain won three matches and then faced France, and for the first 80 minutes France were not better than Spain,"

He added: "Changing the team is to give a break to those who have played and reward those who haven`t played and to show why there are in the national squad.

"All the teams that have qualified are doing the same, some are giving rests to everybody, some give rests to some and as we have a squad where we have two players for every position, the others will all play.

"We already have some problems with fatigue with (Carles) Puyol for example, so the most important thing is to rest players.

"All the teams need to rest. We are a squad and a coach has to be intelligent and know that we have reached the next phase and give a chance to the other players," added the Spain coach, whose side will face Italy in the last eight in Vienna on Sunday.

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel is also planning to mix up his starting XI as the deposed champions look to salvage something from what has been a disappointing tournament to date.

The German coach, who at 69 is the same age as Aragones, said: "I think much like the Spaniards we will have to change our line-up, there are some players who are injured and we will not be fielding them.

"The new faces will have to show they deserve to play in the national team."