ENG: -.
PENALTIES (first): Alan Shearer 1:0, David Platt 2:0, Stuart Pearce 3:1, Paul Gascoigne 4:2.

SPA: -.
PENALTIES (second): Fernando Hierro 1:0 (the bar), Guillermo Amor 2:1, Alberto Belsue 3:2, Miguel Angel Nadal 4:2 (David Seaman).

ENG: Seaman 6.5; G. NEVILLE 7, Adams 5, Southgate 6.5, Pearce 5.5; Platt 4.5, Gascoigne 5, Shearer 5.5, Sheringham 5 (Stone, 109); Anderton 5 (Fowler, 109), McManaman 6 (Barmby, 109).

SPA: Zubizarreta 6.5; Belsue 6.5, Alkorta 6 (Lopez, 75 - 5.5), Abelardo 6, Sergi 6.5; Hierro 5.5, Nadal 6.5, Amor 5, Manjarin 5 (Alfonso, 46 - 6); Kiko 6.5, Julio Salinas 5.5 (Caminero, 46 - 7).

REFEREE: Marc de Batta (France).

AUDIENCE: 75.440, Wembley, London.

YELLOW CARDS: G. Neville (England); Abelardo, Belsue, Alfonso (Spain).

RED CARDS: NONE.

This game had no goals, but had everything except them. The awful refereeing, the two great keepers, plenty of chances on both sides, a roaring stadium, and a great skill. Spain registered its best performance in EC'96, but had to say farewell to England, robbed by the referee and eliminated by David Seaman; however, it was the better team on the pitch and will be remembered with warmth for the pleasure it gave, at least to the neutral spectators like myself.

The start was of Zubizarreta, who managed to fist the ball away before Anderton reached it (1); then, a mistake in the Spanish defence brought Shearer into one-to-one with Zubizarreta (4), but the keeper parried magnificently the mighty ball launched from 15 meters. Gascoigne (10) tried his luck, but Zubizarreta collected the ball; another keeper's sparkle was after 31 minutes, when he parried from under the bar the header of Adams, after a preparation of Gascoigne from a free kick.

Gascoigne made some mistakes, too - in one of those, he lost the ball to Manjarin (22), and the latter passed the ball to Kiko who scored; however, the goal was disallowed because of an offside trap (and rightly so). Belsue shot the ball to Seaman's hands (28), and then came the crucial mistake of de Batta - a perfect goal of Salinas (34) was disallowed because of an offside which never happened! The first serious mistake of Marc de Batta, but not the last, unfortunately; from that moment on, he desperately sucked all the way.

The last opportunities of the 1st half were of Spain. Sergi (35) passed several defenders, but shot the ball near the right post of Seaman; the latter managed to deny Salinas (38). And then, there came the miss to be remembered - Manjarin (42) ran alone in front of Seaman, but the keeper went 25 meters from his net and, risking to be sent off in case of any mistake, managed to block Manjarin by foot! This miss cost Manjarin a place on the pitch just after the break.

The 2nd half started with a refereeing mistake which should've been enough to throw de Batta from the football fields for years. Alfonso got a ball on the left wing, centered it, overran Tony Adams (too tired to cope with Alfonso throughout the game) and rushed into the box, being knocked down by Gazza. The referee blew his whistle and rushed there decisively ... to book Alfonso for pretence! No clearer penalty was deserved by any team in EC'96, but Spain was robbed for the second time.

McManaman tried to find Shearer in the box (53); the latter didn't reach the ball, but the pass itself was curved and dangerous enough to miss the frame by centimeters. Sheringham missed the ball after the pass of the same McManaman (57). Nothing came out of Zubizarreta's mistake in an attempt to grasp a high ball (60). Anderton volleyed it greatly near the Spanish left post (63), and Platt missed the frame from 25 meters (67). On the other side, there were some misses of Kiko (58), Caminero (66) and Hierro (72).

The 73rd minute brought us two magnificent opportunities, one for each squad. It started with a great Spanish attack, and Caminero fell down in the box; no penalty kick was awarded, but here I can second the referee. England performed a quick counterattack, Anderton passed the ball to Shearer, and the latter missed the frame from 3 meters! An incredible miss!

Spain felt it could win, and started pressing. Seaman was there before Alfonso (78, 79), and Kiko shot wide after a penetration (75). Hierro shot too high from a free kick, 20 meters from the net. The last two goal chances were denied by Seaman - first, when he stretched to collect the flat and dangerous ball of Kiko from 25 meters (88), and then, when he managed to parry Kiko's shot in one-to-one (90).

The 1st extra-time half passed under the sign of Zubizarreta. The Spanish veteran keeper denied Gazza (94), parried the same Gazza's clever ball (100), fisted the ball away from Sheringham (102) and took the dangerous ball of Gazza again (103). In between, Shearer headed it away (99). The last word here was of Alfonso (105), whose wonderful back scissors kick from 18 meters went centimeters above the left crossbar of Seaman.

After the break, Seaman was the busy keeper, grasping the ball before Caminero (108), collecting the volley shot of Hierro (117) and taking the ball from the head of Lopez (120). In between, Venables threw three fresh players into the battle. One of them, Steve Stone, earned a clear penalty kick (115), but the referee made a certain justice to Spain, ruining however the game once more. No whistle.

The penalties came. Zubizarreta flew well, but failed to parry the ball of Shearer to his right high corner, 1:0 to England. A bomb of Hierro was stopped by the bar, still 1:0. Platt shot flatly to his right, and Zubizarreta lacked several centimeters to reach it, 2:0. Amor rushed, stopped and then shot to his left and left Seaman stuck; this stop forced a repeat of the penalty, but not with Marc de Batta as a referee, 2:1. Erase Platt from the described above penalty and put there Stuart Pearce to get 3:1. Belsue misled Seaman and shot it weakly to the center, 3:2. Paul Gascoigne, suffering from the pain in his leg, shot the weakest possible, but the clever ball, misleading Zubizarreta and stopping only in the right low corner of the latter, 4:2.

And here the last shot came. Miguel Angel Nadal, who made a tremendous job in the Spanish defence throughout the game, shot his ball to his right, but David Seaman took the proper direction to parry the shot. The joy of Wembley couldn't be described. England became the first team to enter the semis.

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