Spain in the Semis
June 23, 2008
Goalkeeper Iker Casillas was the Spanish hero, saving penalties from Daniel De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.
"Penalties are a bit of a lottery, though we did deserve to win," the Real Madrid keeper said. "I really believed we were going to score, right until the end."
Spain's winning penalty was put away by supersub Cesc Fabregas -- to the delight of the 12,000 Spaniards including King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia in Ernst Happel Stadium.
Spain manager Luis Aragones said that it had been a "fairly even game, with both teams basically playing on the counterattack."
Praise for the 'fighters'
The veteran coach -- who is set to join Turkish giants Fenerbahce after the tournament -- added: "I believe we are deserved winners, though we do have to improve a few things."
Aragones called his team "a good group with a fine spirit, they really know how to fight."
Italian coach Roberto Donadoni said he was proud of his players, who had given their all.
"I told them in the dressing room that I haven't been lucky with penalty shoot-outs. I lost as an under-21, in the semi-finals of a World Cup, in a World Cup final and in the European Championships in England," he said.
"Sometimes you lose, but I think we can hold our heads up high because of how we performed on the pitch."
Dominant Spain deserved win
Despite the effort of the Italians, Aragones' young team deserved to go through, because they dominated possession from start to finish and created the better goal chances.
Italy, in contrast, were content to play out a draw and test their luck in the shoot-out, hoping for a repeat of the 2006 World Cup final against France.
Spain -- the only one of the four group winners to reach the semis -- will now face surprise package Russia on Thursday. In the other semi-final on Wednesday in Basel, Germany meet Turkey.
Spain striker David Villa revealed that King Juan Carlos is planning to again cheer them on against Russia.
"The king was really happy," said Villa, "and he wants to see us play again."
The Valencia striker -- tournament top scorer with four goals -- added: "We have really suffered tonight, but history had a debt with us after so much bad luck in the past."
End of the jinx
The shoot-out win ends Spain's June 22 penalty jinx. On June 22, 1986, Spain lost to Belgium in a dramatic World Cup quarter-final shoot-out, then against England in Euro 1996 on the same date 10 years later.
And it was on June 22, 2002 that the Spaniards lost to hosts South Korea in the 2002 World Cup quarters.
As expected, Spain dominated possession but failed to translate their dominance into clear goal chances. Valencia strikers Villa and David Silva came close several times to breaking the tense deadlock for Spain.
Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon, in the 81st minute, fumbled a long shot from Marcos Senna onto his post.
The nearest that the ultra-cautious Italians came to scoring was in the 61st minute, when Casillas saved a Mauro Camoranesi shot with his left leg.
Spain's domination continued into extra time, with Buffon saving from Villa and Santi Cazorla shooting wide. At the other end, the calm Casillas did well to turn over a Di Natale header.
Then came the nervous shootout -- and Casilla's chance to stake his claim as Europe's number one keeper over Buffon.