It was generally a sterile encounter which ended 0-0, with Italy happy to sit back and soak up the pressure that Spain exerted. The Spaniards went closest to scoring in the 81st minute when Gianluigi Buffon fumbled a shot from the impressive Marcos Senna on to the post, while Mauro Camoranesi saw his shot blocked by the legs of Iker Casillas.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres featured for Spain, before being substituted near the end of normal time.

efforts saved

After the match had finished goalless at the end of extra-time, Arsenal's Fabregas scored the winning penalty for Spain after Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale had seen their efforts saved by Casillas. Daniel Guiza earlier had his spot-kick saved by Buffon, but that miss proved academic. It finished 4-2 to Spain.

They will now play Russia in the last four in Vienna on Thursday, while Germany play Turkey in the other semi-final the day before.