England's penalty curse at major tournament continues as Italy beat the Three Lions 4-2 at Kiev's Olympic Stadium, Ukraine on June 24, 2012 to advance to the semi-finals of Euro 2012. The tense quarter-final match had finished 0-0 after extra-time. This is England’s sixth defeat in a penalty shoot-out in seven attempts since 1990. The Azzurri dominated the match but wasted a host of chances in normal time having 68% possession in the match. England named an unchanged side from their win over Ukraine, with Danny Welbeck in the starting line-up, while Italy started with the eccentric Mario Balotelli ahead of Antonio Di Natale. The match started with free-flowing attacking football, a treat for all the beautiful game fans, with both teams getting glorious chances in the opening minutes. Daniele De Rossi struck the post from distance with a stunning volley while Glen Johnson shot straight at Buffon from six yards. Rooney had a chance to win it for the Three Lions in stoppage time, firing over with an acrobatic effort after an Andy Carroll headed pass across goal. Italy had eight shots on target to England’s one during the entire match.
Riccardo Montolivo (Italy) and Ashley Young (England ) both missed their penalties before Gianluigi Buffon saved Ashley Cole’s kick from the spot, substitute Alessandro Diamanti scored the winning penalty to send the Azzurri into the last four.
Italy will now face Germany in the semi-final at Warsaw on June 28 while defending champion Spain take on Portugal in the other semis on June 27 at Donetsk.
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