Italy dominated for huge swathes of the contest, but were unable to make the breakthrough as England retreated further and further into their shell.

Penalties offered the Three Lions hope but, after Riccardo Montolivo fired wide, Ashley Young and Ashley Cole both failed from 12 yards to leave former West Ham forward Alessandro Diamanti as the man to step up and send Italy into a semi-final date with Germany.

Italy were almost in front inside the opening three minutes when Daniele de Rossi's deliberately sliced volley from 30 yards crashed back off the post with Joe Hart beaten.

England responded almost immediately as Glen Johnson found himself on the edge of the six-yard box, but his shovelled attempt produced a superb reflex stop from Gianluigi Buffon.

The enigmatic Mario Balotelli had numerous chances to put Italy ahead, but was denied by a block from John Terry and then alert defending from his Manchester City team-mate Joleon Lescott.

De Rossi had a golden opportunity to put the Azzurri in front three minutes after half-time, but snatched at his shot, while Balotelli was denied by club colleague Hart and then saw an ambitious overhead kick fly over.

England retreated more and more as the game wore on and were almost punished in the first period of extra-time when Italy substitute Diamanti saw his cross come back off the post.

The Azzurri finally had the ball in the net with five minutes left of extra-time, but substitute Antonio Nocerino was fractionally offside when he stooped to head home and England held out to force a shoot-out.

Man of the match:

Andrea Pirlo. He dictated the play from start to finish and his penalty in the shoot-out smacked of a man brimming with confidence. The range of his passing and vision had England chasing shadows at times, the veteran setting up the majority of Italy's attacks with the Three Lions often powerless to resist.

【新聞快訊】

歐洲杯1/4決賽最后1場(chǎng)在基輔奧林匹克球場(chǎng)展開角逐，意大利120分鐘內(nèi)0比0平英格蘭，點(diǎn)球大戰(zhàn)中4比2勝出，半決賽將對(duì)陣德國。上半時(shí)，德羅西遠(yuǎn)射中柱，約翰遜近射被布馮神勇?lián)涑?，巴洛特利單刀射門被特里封堵。加時(shí)賽中，意大利替補(bǔ)迪亞曼蒂打中立柱。

點(diǎn)球大戰(zhàn)開始！第1輪，巴洛特利推射入左下死角，杰拉德打進(jìn)同一角度，1比1；第2輪，蒙托利沃右腳推射偏出左門柱！魯尼右腳勁射入左上角，1比2；第3輪，皮爾洛冷靜打“勺子”點(diǎn)球攻破門中路！阿什利-揚(yáng)大力抽射擊中橫梁！2比2；第4輪，諾切里諾推射入左下角，阿什利-科爾左腳推射右下角被布馮倒地沒收！3比2；第5輪，迪亞曼蒂左腳推射入左下角，4比2！

【本場(chǎng)最佳球員】

安德里亞·皮爾洛：他整場(chǎng)比賽都在指揮著意大利隊(duì)，他在點(diǎn)球大戰(zhàn)中的“勺子”點(diǎn)球挫傷了英格蘭門將的自信心。他開闊的視野和傳球總是讓英格蘭隊(duì)追逐他的影子，這位經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的老兵發(fā)動(dòng)了意大利隊(duì)絕大多數(shù)的進(jìn)攻，他讓英格蘭三獅軍團(tuán)無力抵抗。