Spain reached its third successive major tournament final after beating
Portugal 4-2 on penalties following a goalless encounter in the first
Euro 2012 semi-final.
The reigning European and World champions were far from their fluent best, especially for the 90 minutes of normal time where Portugal created the more chances.
After surprisingly taking off midfield leader Xavi just before 90 minutes, Spain took control of the game in extra time with Andres Iniesta's close-range effort forcing a superb stop from Rui Patricio - the nearest anyone came to scoring in the whole 120 minutes.
The reigning European and World champions were far from their fluent best, especially for the 90 minutes of normal time where Portugal created the more chances.
After surprisingly taking off midfield leader Xavi just before 90 minutes, Spain took control of the game in extra time with Andres Iniesta's close-range effort forcing a superb stop from Rui Patricio - the nearest anyone came to scoring in the whole 120 minutes.
As with the England-Italy shoot-out on Monday morning (AEST), the eventual winners got off to a bad start missing first.
Rui Patricio saved Xabi Alonso's kick, before Iker Casillas did the same with Joao Moutinho's follow-up penalty.
After four successful kicks each, including Sergio Ramos' effort
reminiscent of Andrea Pirlo's chip kick against England, Bruno Alves saw
his kick come back off the crossbar.
This gave Cesc Fabregas the chance to send Spain to the final and he did so with his kick deflecting in off the goalkeeper's right post.
"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 afterwards.
"They told me I was going to take the second kick, but I said: 'No, I want to take the fifth one.'"
This gave Cesc Fabregas the chance to send Spain to the final and he did so with his kick deflecting in off the goalkeeper's right post.
"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 afterwards.
"They told me I was going to take the second kick, but I said: 'No, I want to take the fifth one.'"
Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque admitted the game could have gone either way.
"We had loads of luck in the penalties," Del Bosque said. "But I want to express my congratulations to the Portuguese side because they played a great tournament, but we were luckier, we really had all the luck this time."
"It was tough. We took a while to get into our stride. The Portuguese were very well organised. Germany and Italy are equally strong."
Spain has now emulated the West German side from 1972-1976 and Brazilian team from 1997-99 in reaching successive continental finals sandwiched by a World Cup final appearance.
As for Portugal, there will be much discussion surrounding their penalty shoot-out tactics.
"We had loads of luck in the penalties," Del Bosque said. "But I want to express my congratulations to the Portuguese side because they played a great tournament, but we were luckier, we really had all the luck this time."
"It was tough. We took a while to get into our stride. The Portuguese were very well organised. Germany and Italy are equally strong."
Spain has now emulated the West German side from 1972-1976 and Brazilian team from 1997-99 in reaching successive continental finals sandwiched by a World Cup final appearance.
As for Portugal, there will be much discussion surrounding their penalty shoot-out tactics.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed a kick for Manchester United in the 2008
Champions League final, did not take one of his team's first four kicks
and Fabregas' goal meant he was not used in the shoot-out when both
central defenders, Pepe and Bruno Alves, did take shots.
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