• Press refresh for the latest or turn on the auto-update
• Email barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts
• Keep up with all our Euro 2012 coverage here
So, what did Italy manager Cesare Prandelli make of his side's win last night?
"I wasn't surprised," he said. "I knew we could control the game. My worry was that we were allowing England too much space on the break – we could have been a bit cleverer in our build-up play. We tried to play football. We tried to draw England out; we tried to hit them quickly. I think if we'd scored in the 90 minutes it would have been an even better game.
"Penalties are a lottery but I thought we deserved victory in the end. When [Riccardo] Montolivo missed his penalty I was sad as he was one of the best players tonight. I was watching with my arm around my son and I told him he was lucky he didn't have to buy a ticket. "When Andrea Pirlo stepped up I was very calm – he's a star and knew what he needed to do; and he did it".
"Around 80% of penalty shoot-outs go down to luck. Some players are used to this kind of pressure, some are just calm in these situations – but mainly it's down to good fortune.
"President Napolitano called us to congratulate us and that was special. We are delighted but we have to get ready for Germany now. They have had two more days' rest. If we have the same approach, the same desire, I think we can compete.
"Germany and Spain are favourites here. We'll need everyone fit and fresh; we're going to go for it. They're always attacking games against Germany. Germany are a great side – they made changes against Greece and it made no difference. The game here hasn't long ended and we want to get our players fit – we just want to go home and get to bed to be honest."
An email from Paul Brennan: "As a fellow Irishman with little emotional investment in last night's proceedings, maybe you can confirm/deny whether I'm clinically insane or not," he begins, apparently looking for some cheap therapy.
"You see, practically every journalist I follow on Twitter is toeing the line that, whilst England were indeed a risible shambles versus Italy, Hodgson did the best he could with the players at his disposal.
"Whilst I personally disagree, and take a dim view of ceding possession as a matter of course against every team you play - regardless of their quality (Ukraine! Sweden!) - that's not what is puzzling and amusing me in equal measure.
"You see, I remember when England were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup by a Germany team that was arguably better than the current Italy team. I also remember the reaction to that defeat, and particularly the reaction towards Fabio Capello. The prevailing opinion seemed to be that he should go, and that the FA would have gotten rid of him only for the bumper payoff they'd have had to have given him. His tactics were described as unimaginative, and he was pilloried for not getting the best out of a talented group of players.
"Fast forward two years, and practically the same group of players has almost paradoxically seen the current manager absolved of any blame for England's woes. Expectations regarding everything from how the team should do in the tournament, to what is expected tactically of the team, have been revised downwards to a level where grinding through a poor group in uninspired fashion and being hopelessly outplayed by the first decent team they came across is now viewed as a source of pride, rather than a stick with which to beat the manager.
"Either the talent pool has reduced drastically in two years (I don't see that, to be honest) or else double standards are at play. May I be so bold as to voice my opinion that, had it been nasty foreign Capello, rather than wily cerebral Englishman Mr Roy that presided over the two-banks-of-four banality at the Euros, the reaction would have been altogether more caustic? Maybe I'm just cynical.
"Then again, maybe not."
Heavily tattooed Italy and Bologna trequarista Alessandro Diamanti has taken his turn to stick the boot into poor old England. "England wanted to pull a Chelsea, but they failed," the midfield substitute told Goal.com, after stroking home the final penalty of the evening last night. "We knew that they were going to wait for us and try to hurt us on the break, but we came here to play our game. The important thing was to have possession of the ball and win with our style. We should have won the match during regular time, but wasted so many chances."
Those prophets of the past among you who are all blessed with the gift of hindisght might enjoy a giggle at the Guardian football writers' pre-tournament predictions. Of course you won't be laughing at the astute visionary who, upon being asked how far England would go, replied "They will lose against Italy in the quarter-finals, probably on penalties."
With Germany next up for Italy in Thursday night's semi-final, Italians will be delighted to hear that all is not well in their opponents' camp. Hoffenheim manager Markus Babbel believes Germany coach Joachim Low has been "betrayed" by a mole in the Germany camp who keeps revealing the team selection hours before the games are due to take place.
Low's starting XI became public knowledge over six hours before their Euro 2012 quarter-final clash with Greece on Friday, infuriating the coach and members of the team.
Babbel told Sport1 that the leaks are "frustrating, unnecessary and stupid".
Low believes that one of the players' friends or agents is passing on the confidential information and he has already told them to be more careful with who they talk to ahead of Thursday's semi-final clash with Italy.
Babbel hopes that the mole will also have a conscience and realise that what they are doing is jeopardising Germany's chances of glory in Poland and Ukraine.
"We all have the goal of becoming European champions," he said. "If there is somebody there spreading things like this, then he is not doing German football any favours. At the end of the day, we all suffer because of it."
Germany captain Philipp Lahm said what is discussed in the team meeting at lunchtime before the game "should remain within the four walls". At a press conference in Gdansk, he added: "It is a shame when things leak out.
"The whole nation wants us to go far and it is not an advantage when the team is revealed hours before the game. Whoever is revealing this has not understood what sport is. It's definitely a shame."
Im the interests of shameless self-promotion, I should probably mention that if you want a summary of the Italian (and German) press reaction to last night's match written by somebody who speaks neither Italian nor German, then my lovingly crafted Euro 2012 Paper Round-up is just the thing for you.
Apologies for the delay between posts, but I've been off cropping and uploading this photograph of Andrea Pirlo taking the penalty with which he insouciantly chipped Joe Hart last night. Let's not beat around the bush here, it took massive brass balls to attempt a scavetto in the pressure environment of a quarter-final shoot-out at a major international tournament, not least because Italy were on the back foot after Riccardo Montolivo's had shanked his effort, one kick before. He's stepped up, he's not even looking at the ball and gives it what looks like the most casual of flicks with his right foot, without a hint of follow-through. Astonishing.
It looks like Harry Redknapp has wound down his car window to hold court. The former Tottenham Hotspur manager who many had expected to be in charge of England at this tournament, believes England fully deserved to lose against Italy last night.
"It would have been an injustice if we'd won," he told The Sun. "They had twice as many touches as us. Roy Hodgson did the best he could with that squad. The players couldn't have given any more. I'm naturally sad that we didn't go through and I was shocked by how good Italy were. What this could do is provide a lesson for everyone about how to be a force at international level," he said, pointing to Italy's possession advantage. With Andrea Pirlo in there it was extremely tough for our boys to make an impact."
The world and his wife have had their say on Italy's win and England's exit, so here's a selection of what all those on the good ship Guardian have been writing.
• England's night slips away as Italy ultimately prevail, writes Richard Williams.
• Gigi Buffon and Andrea Pirlo are the bedrock of Italy, observes Amy Lawrence.
• Gary Lineker takes the pun out of everything coming our way, says Martin Kelner.
• Dominic Fifield raises Five talking points from England v Italy .
• On the tactics front, Michael Cox from Zonal Marking explains how Italy's sparkling diamond Andrea Pirlo tormented England.
• They may be out, but England have a sense of peace after exiting Euro 2012, muses Rob Smyth, who wraps up an excellent piece by deciding the new England are like the old Scotland in more ways than one.
Good morning everybody. It's the morning after the night before, the dust has settled and those slump-shouldered figures you can see sitting on the big England-shaped pile of rubble are Ashleys Young and Cole feeling sorry for themselves after missing the spot-kicks that ensured another ignominious big tournament quarter-final exit on penalties.
We'll be keeping you up to date with all the fall-out from England's fairly meek surrender to Italy throughout the day, as well as bringing you news pertaining to other Euro 2012 matters, so feel free to bang the football world to rights in the comments section below the line.
To get the ball rolling, you can read Daniel Taylor's match report from Kiev, listen to the post match European Football Daily podcast hosted by a decidedly smug James Richardson while marking the players from both teams out of 10 in our England v Italy player ratings. It should probably go without saying that Wayne Rooney (3.9) and Ashley Young (3.1) could probably do with all the help they can get. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
