Sat Jun 21 18:56:48 2008

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Spain doesn't 'fear' Italy

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Vienna, Austria (Sports Network) - Spain forward Fernando Torres admitted Italy has his team's "respect" entering Sunday's Euro 2008 quarterfinal, but "we have absolutely no fear of them."

"It's not by luck that they are world champions," he said on UEFA's website.

"However, we have absolutely no fear of them or of anyone else in the world - we've demonstrated our quality."

Spain, which is unbeaten in 19 straight matches, will try to become the only group winner to advance to the semifinals when it plays Italy at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium.

Portugal, Croatia and the Netherlands - the other group winners - all bowed out in the quarterfinals. Russia, which defeated the Netherlands on Saturday, 3-1, in overtime will play the winner of the Spain-Italy match on Thursday.

Germany plays Turkey in Wednesday's semifinal. Germany defeated Portugal, 3-2, and Turkey defeated Croatia in penalty kicks, 3-1, after a 1-1 tie.

Spain was one of the most impressive teams in group play, but the Dutch learned Saturday how little that means once the knockout stage starts.

The Netherlands crushed World Cup champions Italy, 3-0, in its first match and then rolled to a 4-1 win over France, the 2006 World Cup runner-up. The Dutch also won their final game against Romania, 2-0, without many of its starters.

Spain was impressive in its first game against Russia, getting three goals from David Villa in a 4-1 win. Victories over Sweden and Greece followed.

But Spain has never defeated Italy in a major tournament and Carlos Puyol said on UEFA's website "we will have to be at our very best ... to defeat them."

Villa's four goals leads the tournament and Torres has a goal and an assist.

Spain's defense is still a concern but Puyol should be fit despite an injury to his right foot. Puyol will likely be handed the responsibility of marking Italy striker Luca Toni, who has yet to score but is a major threat.

"He might not have scored in this tournament so far," Puyol said on UEFA's website, "but there are plenty of goals in his boots.

Italy's defensive style is one "you can like or dislike," Torres said on UEFA's website, "but they play it to perfection."

The Italians need their defense to hold up, though. After the embarrassing loss to the Netherlands, the team has managed to solidify things on defense without Fabio Cannavaro and has started to look more like the '06 champions.

"We were given a proper hiding by the Netherlands but have reacted really well to the setback," Italy's Gennaro Gattuso, who will miss the match because of a suspension, said on UEFA's website.

In addition to Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli will also miss the key game against Spain. Pirlo is also suspended and Barzagli ruptured his meniscus in training Thursday.

Italy will still be tough without those players, and the team's 2-0 win against France in the last group game reminded everyone - especially Spain - that it is still the world champion.

"Sometimes you get off to a false start in tournaments," Cannavaro told UEFA's website. "But now we've got it together again."