Spanish players (from right) David Villa, Santi Cazorla, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos celebrate after the quarter-final match between Spain and Italy in Vienna, Austria, yesterday at the Euro 2008 European Soccer Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Spain defeated Italy 4-2 on penalties, following a 0-0 draw. - AP

VIENNA, Austria (AP):

Iker Casillas saved two penalties and Cesc Fabregas scored the winning kick to give Spain a 4-2 shoot-out victory over World Cup champion Italy yesterday and a spot in the European Championship semi-finals.

After an often dull 0-0 draw, the Man-of-the-Match Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.

"I was sure he was going to stop the penalties," Spain coach Luis Aragones said. "I was sure."

Saved the day

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saved Spain's fourth kick from Dani Guiza, but David Villa, Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna also scored to send Spain through to a semi-final meeting with Russia.

Only Fabio Grosso and Mauro Camoranesi managed to score their penalties for Italy at Ernst Happel Stadium.

"We deserved to win on penalty kicks," Aragones said. "We didn't play great football, but neither did Italy."

Spain, the only of the four group winners to reach the semi-finals at Euro 2008, will face Russia at the same stadium on Thursday.

The Spaniards beat Russia 4-1 in its opening Group D match. Germany will face Turkey on Wednesday in Basel, Switzerland.

'Positive things'

After an uninspiring 90 minutes in which neither side met its potential, 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, bringing on Alessandro Del Piero, but the team's continued caution suggested this was more for the shoot-out than for his ability to conjure a winning goal.

"The forwards did their jobs," Donadoni said. "Even though they didn't score goals, they did some positive things."