Cesc Fabregas scored the deciding penalty yesterday to give Spain a 4-2 shoot-out win over World Cup champion Italy and a spot in the European Championship semi-finals after a dull 0-0 draw.

Spain's goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale.

David Villa, Santi Cazorla, Marcos Senna also scored for Spain, but Dani Guiza missed. Fabio Grosso, Mauro Camoranesi scored penalties for Italy.

"Clearly losing on penalties after working so hard doesn't leave us happy," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. "We all spent a lot of energy. You've got to recall those who didn't play tonight. They've got to be the most disappointed, and I'm sorry for them."

Spain, the only country of the four group winners to reach the semi-finals at Euro 2008, will face Russia in the semi-finals on Thursday. Germany will face Turkey on Wednesday in Basel, Switzerland.

After a mostly dull 90 minutes at Ernst Happel Stadium, David Silva hit a shot just wide for Spain in extra time and Di Natale had a header tipped over the bar by Casillas.

Italy made their last substitution in the 108th, bringing on Alessandro Del Piero, but the team's continued caution suggested this was more for the shoot-out than for his ability to conjure a winning goal.

"The forwards did their jobs," Donadoni said. "Even though they didn't score goals, they did some positive things."

Spain created more openings in the first 90 minutes, but Italy went close in the 61st minute when Camoranesi had a goalbound shot blocked by the legs of Casillas.

With key midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso suspended, the World Cup champions seemed mostly content to try and stifle a Spain team that had shown some of the best attacking football in the group stages.

Spain's best opportunity came in the 81st when goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon spilled a fierce long-range shot by Senna. The ball squirmed out of his hands and rolled back to hit the post before landing softly back in his arms.

The first half had been so poor that both sets of fans jeered the teams off the field for the interval, with the most noise the heavily outnumbered Italians made coming when Antonio Cassano took a 40th-minute corner right in front of them.

Spain at least attempted some enterprising football and had 10 shots to Italy's two, but the Italians' defence was so secure that only a blocked effort by Silva came from inside the area.

The move that led to that chance was arguably the brightest spot in a stultifying first half. David Villa set up Silva with a back-heeled return pass so audacious that even retired France great Zinedine Zidane, who was watching from the stands, nodded in approval.

Spain tried to quicken things up, refusing to dither over goal kicks and throws, but the game continued to succumb to Italy's leaden pace.