Spain reached their third consecutive major tournament final after overcoming neighbours Portugal 4-2 on penalties in the first Euro 2012 semi-final in Donetsk on Wednesday. After an attritional game finished 0-0 following extra time at Donbass Arena, Cesc Fabregas swept home the winning spot-kick to put Spain in the final. Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho both saw their opening penalties saved, but Portugal blinked first when Zenit Saint-Petersburg centre-back Bruno Alves slammed his side’s fourth penalty against the crossbar.
Fabregas stepped up and, just as he had done in the penalty shootout win over Italy in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals, the Barcelona man held his nerve, steering the ball into the bottom-left corner to send Portugal home. “We are so happy to have reached another final. I don’t know if that has ever been done in history,” Fabregas told Spanish television channel Telecinco, his voice cracking with emotion. “They told me I was going to take the second kick, but I said: ‘No, I want to take the fifth one.'” Reigning world and European champions Spain, who are bidding to become the first team in history to win three major competitions in a row, will face either Italy or Germany in Sunday’s final in Kiev. “We were stronger in extra time, but overall it was a fairly even contest,” said Spain coach Vicente del Bosque. “It was tough. We took a while to get into our stride. The Portuguese were very well organised. Germany and Italy are equally strong.”
It was a deeply disappointing end to the tournament for Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who had threatened to fire his side into only their second major final but who did not even get a chance to have his say in the shoot-out. “If I had to choose a way of losing, I wouldn’t choose this,” said Portugal coach Paulo Bento. “But you have to lose some way. Spain are a great team and we can leave the pitch with our heads held high.” A surprise inclusion in Spain’s starting line-up, Alvaro Negredo was at the source of the game’s first chance, with Alvaro Arbeloa side-footing over after the Sevilla striker was crowded out in the Portuguese area. Portugal’s match-winner against both the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, Ronaldo was a spectator in the first 10 minutes, but gradually his influence grew. After fluffing a free-kick into the base of the wall from a tight angle on the left, he lashed a half-volley high over the crossbar from the edge of the area and then drilled a left-shot narrowly wide of the right-hand post. As in the quarter-final win against France, Spain struggled to find holes in their opponent’s defence, and it was a surprise to see Alonso club a long ball forward in the 29th minute. It produced a sight of goal, however, with Andres Iniesta bending a shot narrowly over the bar after Negredo had chased down Alonso’s pass, held off Fabio Coentrao, and worked the ball back to the edge of the area.
Ronaldo all washed up as penalties pass him by
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will have to wait another two years to see if he will grace a major final for only the second time after Spain edged his side 4-2 on penalties in their Euro 2012 semi-final here on Wednesday. However, many will question what happened in the penalty shootout as he stood like a spare part – a disconsolate one at that – as Cesc Fabregas put away the winning penalty leaving him as Portugal’s fifth penalty taker superfluous to proceedings. Even more strangely, both centrebacks had preceded their captain to the penalty spot, though Bruno Alves’s first attempt was cut off in its prime as Nani ran up and told him to go back. Alves was eventually to go fourth and miss opening the way for Fabregas to squeeze his winner over the line. Portuguese coach Paulo Bento, though, was unrepentant about marking Ronaldo down in fifth. “If it had been 4-4 and he had taken the last penalty, we’d be talking in a different way. It’s about strategy and we’d defined that before,” said Bento. Ronaldo was phlegmatic about the defeat, though, the disappointment was etched all over his face.
