Euro 2012 Day 11 Round Up - Spain and Italy Advance to Last 8 as Croatia and Ireland Sent Packing

Jesus Navas taps in to win it for Spain

Defending champions Spain qualified for the quarterfinals of the ongoing European championships with a labored 1-0 win over Croatia as Italy also advanced as Group D runners-up with a 2-0 triumph over Ireland.

La Roja found the Balkan defence hard to crack and had to wait until the 88^th minute to nick the win. Man-of-the-match, Andres Iniesta, collected an implausible lobbed ball from substitute Cesc Fabregas before selflessly feeding Jesus Navas who had the simple task of tapping in to give Vicente del Bosque’s side a win which was more professional than deserved.

Meanwhile a goal either side of the half from Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli gave Italy a comfortable 2-0 win over Ireland at Stadion Miejski in Poznan.

Cassano headed the Azzurri in front in the 35^th minute from an Andrea Pirlo cross and Balotelli assured the 1968 winners of the three points and a slot in the last eight with a sublime bicycle kick from inside the area.

Cesare Prandelli’s side will face winners of Group D while Spain will face the runners-up. England and France are expected to advance but Ukraine also have a chance should they beat England or draw and hope that Sweden beat France by more than three goals.

And That's thesteifmastertake!!