Spain beat Italy in penalty drama

Keystone

Spain have eliminated World Champions Italy from Euro 2008, which is being co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria.

With the score remaining 0-0 after 120 minutes, Cesc Fabregas scored the deciding penalty in Vienna on Sunday to give Spain a 4-2 penalty shootout win and a spot in the semifinals.

Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.

David Villa, Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna also scored for Spain, but Dani Güiza missed. Fabio Grosso, Mauro Camoranesi scored penalties for Italy.

Spain will face Russia in the semifinals on Thursday.

After a mostly dull 90 minutes at Ernst Happel Stadium, David Silva hit a shot just wide for Spain in extra time and Di Natale had a header tipped over the bar by Casillas.

Italy made their last substitution in the 108th minute, bringing on Alessandro Del Piero, but the team’s continued caution suggested this was more for the shootout than for his ability to conjure a winning goal.

Spain created more openings in the first 90 minutes, but Italy went close in the 61st minute when Camoranesi had a goalbound shot blocked by the legs of Casillas.

With key midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso suspended, the World Cup champions seemed mostly content to try to stifle a Spain team that had shown some of the best attacking football in the group stages.

Spain’s best opportunity came in the 81st minute when goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon spilled a fierce long-range shot by Senna.

The ball squirmed out of his hands and rolled back to hit the post before landing softly back in his arms.

Jeers

The first half had been so poor that both sets of fans jeered the teams off the field for the interval, with the most noise the heavily outnumbered Italians made coming when Antonio Cassano took a 40th-minute corner right in front of them.

Spain at least attempted some enterprising football and had ten shots to Italy’s two, but the Italians’ defence was so secure that only a blocked effort by Silva came from inside the area.

The move that led to that chance was arguably the brightest spot in a stultifying first half. David Villa set up Silva with a back-heeled return pass so audacious that even retired France great Zinedine Zidane, who was watching from the stands, nodded in approval.

Spain tried to quicken things up, refusing to dither over goal kicks and throws, but the game continued to succumb to Italy’s leaden pace.

Silva twice had 25-metre shots saved by Buffon low to his left and the Spanish, who had flourished in the first round with eight goals in three first-round matches, seemed to get frustrated.

Silva was lucky not to get a yellow card in the 42nd minute when he threw himself over the outstretched leg of Grosso on the edge of the area. Silva writhed about on the grass until play was halted, at which point German referee Herbert Fandel marched half the length of the field to order him to his feet.

Hapless Toni

The pace improved at the start of the second half even if the quality didn’t.

Fernando Torres and Villa worked the ball to Andres Iniesta on the left of Italy’s area only for the midfielder to mis-control and let it hit his hand.

And Silva got a chance in the 49th minute when a clearance under pressure by Christian Panucci hit De Rossi and rebounded to Silva in the area. Silva twisted to get his shot away, but Giorgio Chiellini blocked with a sliding challenge.

But at least there seemed to be more attacking intent from Italy, who almost took the lead in the 61st minute after Luca Toni hooked the ball away from Casillas just as he was about to grab it. Camoranesi, who been on the field just three minutes, shot from in front of goal only for the recovering Casillas to block with his legs.

Villa was unlucky to be booked when the referee misinterpreted his slip in the area as a dive, but the fortune went Spain’s way later on when Grosso was preparing to meet a cross into the area with a shot on goal, only for Toni to redirect the flight of the ball away from him with an attempted overhead kick.

Toni hasn’t scored for Italy since a friendly against Portugal in February, a stretch of 535 minutes.

The Spanish won’t care about that, however – they are now turning their attention to the Russians. The Spanish are slight favourites, but the sparkling Russians and their mercurial striker Andrei Arshavin, so far the discovery of the tournament, should ensure a better game than the one tonight.

swissinfo with agencies

In brief

Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Christian Panucci, Fabio Grosso, Giorgio Chiellini, Simone Perrotta (Mauro Camoranesi, 58), Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Aquilani, Massimo Ambrosini, Luca Toni, Antonio Cassano (Antonio Di Natale, 75).

Spain: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila, Xavi Hernandez (Cesc Fabregas, 60), David Silva, Marcos Senna, Andres Iniesta (Santi Cazorla, 59), David Villa, Fernando Torres (Daniel Güiza, 85).

Euro 2008

Switzerland is co-hosting the Euro 2008 football tournament with Austria from June 7-29.

The first round games were played in four cities in Switzerland (Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich) and four cities in Austria (Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna). The quarterfinals and semifinals are being hosted by Basel and Vienna, and the final will be held in Vienna on June 29.

The finals will be broadcast in 170 countries and are expected to be watched by about eight billion cumulative TV viewers.