Spain had not won against Italy in a competitive match in 88 years and a penalty shoot-out in 24 years, but neither of those facts seemed to matter as Luis Aragones' side triumphed 4:2 on penalties in the last Euro 2008 quarterfinal.

Every Euro 2008 group winner that has rested players in the final group game, like Spain did, has already gone out of the tournament and even the date of the match did not bode well for the notoriously superstitious Aragones, Spain going out on penalties on June 22 in the 1986 World Cup to Belgium and 1996 European championship to England.

So it came as no surprise that Spain set out to win the match in regular time, constructing patient passing moves, which nevertheless came to nothing against a well-marshalled Italian defence.

In the absence of the creative spark of Andrea Pirlo, suspended, Italy reverted from the free-flowing attacking style they played in their group matches to their more traditional defensive approach, counting on the tall presence of Luca Toni to provide the threat at the other end. Unfortunately, the striker's rotten luck at this tournament had not changed and his few openings did not trouble Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas much.

Frustrated by the Italian defence, for which make-shift centre-back Giorgio Chiellini had a monster of a game, Spain was forced to resort to long-distance shots, David Silva coming close to opening the scoring in the first half.

Spain also had two penalty appeals turned down by German referee Herbert Fandel, for fouls on Silva and David Villa, which, if given, would have certainly opened up the game. Instead, it was often reduced to a scrappy battle in midfield, full of niggly fouls on both sides, which resulted in 51 free kicks being awarded during the game, and with tempers flaring a couple of times, especially as the match wore on.

Even so, Spain was clearly the more attacking side and continued searching for a goal, making a double substitution to replace the ineffective Andres Iniesta with Santiago Cazorla and Xavi Hernandez with Cesc Fabreegas in the 58th minute to inject more pace to their attacks.

It only worked to some extent, as Italy continued to defend in numbers, although the world champions did venture forward occasionally and Casillas had an outstanding save with his feet from Mauro Camoranesi's shot in the 61st minute, Italy's clearest goal-scoring opportunity during the entire match.

With extra-time looming, Aragones sent on Dani Guiza, top scorer in last season's Spanish Primera Division, for Fernando Torres, but even that did not help break the resolute Italians, who played for penalties and got their wish, the match ending goalless.

David Villa, who constantly harried Italian defenders throughout the match, gave Spain a flying start to the spot-kick series, only for Fabio Grosso to equalise with the next penalty. Cazorla then put Spain in front and Casillas produced another great stop from Daniele De Rossi to give advantage to his team.

Marcos Senna for Spain and Camoranesi for Italy both took their spot kicks flamboyantly and scored, Gianluigi Buffon raising the hopes of Italian supporters in the stadium when he stopped Guiza's poorly-hit penalty.

In an indirect face-off between arguably the world's two best keepers, Casillas came out on top, stopping Antonio Di Natale's penalty, while Buffon could do nothing to save Fabregas' shot, which sent Spain into the first semi-final in a major tournament since the 1984 European championship.

Aragones' team now faces Russia on June 26. In the group stage, Spain came out a convincing winner 4:1, with Villa scoring a hat-trick, but this time they will play against a team revitalised by the return from suspension of playmaker Andrei Arshavin and should not expect a walk in the park.