Spain take semi-final place with pens win

By Paul Radford

VIENNA (Reuters) - Spain overcame a bizarre penalty shootout jinx to beat Latin rivals Italy on Sunday, reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2008 after a defence-dominated match which lacked the flair of the rest of the tournament.

Spain's hero was goalkeeper Iker Casillas who saved two spot kicks from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale as his team won the shootout 4-2 after the match had ended 0-0 after extra time.

Spain, who will now play Russia in the semi-finals in the Austrian capital on Thursday, might have feared the worst when the match went into extra time -- because they have been ousted in a shootout three times before on June 22.

The first was against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup, the second against England at Euro 96 and the third when they played South Korea in the 2002 World Cup -- all, coincidentally, in the quarter-finals.

The Spanish, who won this event in 1964, had never previously beaten Italy from five matches in the finals of either the European Championship or World Cup, a run going back to 1934.

Their win also gave them their first major tournament semi-final place in 24 years -- they finished runners-up to France in the 1984 European Championship -- but have consistently under-performed when it really matters.

It was the third consecutive quarter-final at Euro 2008 to go into extra time and the second of them to finish in a shootout.

SERIOUS THREAT