Spain prevailed against Italy on penalties — and it was one of their successful takers who continuously caught the eye during the preceding two hours of football.

Influential Senna
As his name suggests, Marcos António Senna da Silva was born in Brazil. The 31-year-old midfield anchorman took Spanish residency two years ago and played at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. But, with just one appearance in the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifiers and eleven caps in total before the Furia Roja's arrival in Austria, it seemed unlikely that he would emerge as one of Spain's most influential players at the finals. However, that is unquestionably what he has become.

Perfect first half
Seated in front of the back four in a conventional holding midfield role, Senna looked impressive in the group games against Russia and Sweden, but against Italy he surpassed himself. In the first half of the match, he made 40 passes and every single one found its intended target. By the end of extra time, his economy rate had dipped to 91 per cent, but that was more an indication of his willingness to force the game rather than of any decline in his level of performance. In any case, he not only had the highest success rate in his team, he also supplied the most passes — 94. The Villarreal CF midfielder also came closest to scoring a goal in normal play when his first-time piledriver from distance forced Gianluigi Buffon to spill the ball against the foot of the post — this just seconds after his powerful free-kick had brought an ungainly double-fisted save from the outstanding Azzurri No1.

De Rossi denied
Senna finally got the measure of Buffon with his immaculately converted spot-kick in the shoot-out — a strike that put Spain 3-1 ahead. His counterpart, Daniele De Rossi, who played a similarly pivotal role in the Italy midfield, was not so fortunate with his effort as Iker Casillas denied him by making the first of his two match-winning saves.

No goal threat
De Rossi, who was voted Carlsberg Man of the Match in Italy's win over France, was asked to fill the boots of the suspended Andrea Pirlo against Spain. And, although his football was neat, tidy and industrious — as reflected in his 90 per cent pass completion rate, the best among the eleven who started for the Azzurri, and his distance covered of 14.65km, the most of any player on the field — he posed no threat on goal, managing just one shot, which was blocked, in the 120 minutes. Perhaps he was out of practice when it came to putting his foot through the ball and finding the net when it mattered, in the shoot-out.