Euro 2012: Xabi Alonso's Double Leads Spain to Semifinals
In the third quarter final match of Euro 2012 Spain defeated France 2-0 to enter the Semi finals of the tournament. Spain will meet their neighboring country Portugal in the Semifinal match on 27th June in Donetsk.
Xabi Alonso scored a double while playing in his 100th International football match. Zabi scored the first goal in 19th minute by a header and leaded his team 1-0. Alonso scored the second goal in the injury time after converting a penalty to the goal.
This was the first time that Spain have defeated the French in a competitive match. Earlier in last six head-to-head competitive matches France defeated Spain five times while drawn one match. The last encounter between this two teams was back in 2006 FIFA world cup when the French defeated Spain by 3-1.
For France it was the first time in six years when they entered the knockout stages of any major tournament after the 2006 FIFA world cup. They entered the quarter finals of the tournament with only four points on the table. France won only one match by defeating Ukraine while managed to draw against England. While in their last group stage match Sweden defeated french by 2-0.
The defending champions will now facing Portugal in the first semi final. With Christiano Ronaldo sparkling with 3 goals in the last two matches it's sure that football fans will witness a tough fight between both in the teams.
In the last quarterfinal match to be played today England will face Italy at Olympic stadium in Kyiv. The match will begin at 21:45 local time. The winner will face Germany in the semifinal match.
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