jesus navas was the hero as spain won a dramatic semi-final 7-6 on penalties, after a goalless 120 minutes, to book a long-anticipated meeting with brazil in the fıfa confederations cup final.
navas converted the winning spot-kick after leonardo bonucci was the first player to miss from the spot, with the shoot-out's 13th attempt.
neither side could be separated after a tense and pulsating 120 minutes. both sides hit the woodwork in extra time before navas settled the match.
there were early chances for ıtaly, as christian maggio was set free behind the spain defence and ıker casillas reacted well. daniele de rossi also headed wide from a whipped andrea pirlo free kick.
emanuele giaccherini then picked the ball up on the ıtaly left before cutting inside and hitting a cross-field ball towards maggio. he nodded the ball back across goal and marchisio could only head wide after throwing himself at the ball.
spain then slowed the game down, after ıtaly’s blistering start, but gli azzurri came back again.
giaccherini once again found space on the ıtaly left and delivered yet another brilliant ball towards maggio. ıtaly’s no2 headed straight at casillas and the real madrid stopper gratefully dived on the ball at the second attempt.
fernando torres then fired a spanish warning shot. he held off andrea barzagli before brilliantly turning the juventus defender. spain’s no9 fired a shot just wide of gianluigi buffon’s left-hand post.
at half-time, cesare prandelli replaced barzagli with riccardo montolivo, with de rossi dropping back into defence.
the second-half started slowly, with spain retaining possession in the centre of the pitch once again. andres ıniesta screwed a shot wide, before substitute jesus navas saw his low drive comfortably saved by buffon.
neither side created any real clear cut chances for the remainder of the second half, with both sides retaining possession for long periods.
spain then got a free kick in the final few seconds and xavi whipped a delivery in and de rossi headed a clearance narrowly past the post. there was no time for the corner as howard webb blew his whistle to signal the end of normal time.
both sides went for broke in extra time and giaccherini went closest for gli azzurri, smashing an effort off casillas’ right-hand post after good build-up play by maggio.
some last-ditch defending by de rossi denied sergio ramos as he closed in on a simple finish following a pique flick-on.
xavi went closest for spain in the second half of extra time. his drive from distance was tipped onto the post by buffon. martinez collected the ball and crossed agonisingly close to mata, who threw himself at the delivery but could not connect.
jesus navas then saw his drive across goal tipped wide by buffon as spain ramped up the pressure in the closing stages, but the match remained goalless and went to the drama of penalties.
candreva stepped up and confidently converted the opening penalty with a pirlo-style panenka effort. there were 11 more perfect penalties before bonucci fired over the bar.
jesus navas was given the opportunity to send spain into the final and he slammed his penalty low and hard into the bottom left-hand corner.
ıt was to be spain's night, and the maracana awaits for spain on sunday, as they head into the fıfa confederations cup final against brazil.
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