Spain defeated world champions Italy from the spot today to break their twenty-two year history of losing out in major tournaments on June 22 due to penalties.
Iker Casillas denied Daniele De Grossi and Antonio Di Natale after 120 minutes goal-less play at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, and Cesc Fabregas tucked away the decisive penalty to advance Spain to the semifinals of Euro 2008.
Spain now face yesterday’s other quarterfinal winners, Russia, in Vienna on Thursday, while the Azurri, themselves winners of the 2006 FIFA World Cup after a penalty shoot-out, return home with nothing to show two years after their glory-run in Germany.
The Spanish had gone down to Belgium in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, then England in Euro 96, and South Korea in the 2002 FIFA World Cup – all on June 22 following penalty shoot-outs.
Spain now remain the only top-seeded nation in group-play to win in the knockout stage, following defeats from Portugal, Croatia, and Holland earlier this week. Germany and Turkey join Russia and Spain to contend for the highly coveted European championship trophy.
Spain dominated throughout the majority of the match but could not penetrate the water-tight defense of the Italians, who for their part were content to sit back and defend as the Spanish consistently attempted to build up from behind and strike with their front-men for the winner.
Clear goal-scoring opportunities came far and few in between for Spanish strikers David Villa and Fernando Torres, as the Azurri ruthlessly shut down the passing lanes between them and their mid-fielders through the whole of 120 minutes, and neither forward caused too much trouble to Italian keeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Italy looked as if they did not want to test the Spanish defense to begin with, and Luca Toni spent much of the game as a spectator, unable to get an effective touch on the ball or cause any concern for his opposite numbers.
In the 32nd minute, David Senna tried a long shot from twenty yards out for Spain, forcing Buffon to dive low and push the ball around the up-right for a corner, and Daniele De Grossi gave Italy their first real opportunity of the game when he lobbed the ball over the Spanish defense for Mauro Camoranesi and Luca Toni and caused a frantic scramble inside the penalty box, which resulted in a fine sliding save from Casillas after Camoranesi fired one low into the keeper’s legs.
In the 81st minute, Senna blazed in a curling shot from thirty yards out and nearly forced a costly error from Buffon when the Juventus keeper spilled the ball into the up-right.
In extra time, David Villa crossed the ball to Daniel Guiza inside the eighteen-yard box during a Spanish counter-attack progression, and Cesc Fabregas fired Guiza’s headed pass just inches wide of the post. Minutes later, Villa again flicked the ball onto the Guiza, who passed it wide and into space for Santi Cazorla, who shot it hard past an outstretched Buffon and the opposite up-right – too hard for an oncoming Villa, who had run un-marked toward the far post and would have put Spain up 1-0 had the ball come in slightly lighter, and the match subsequently moved into penalties.