World champions Italy booked their place in EURO 2008 quarter-finals following an easy 2-0 victory over 10-man France as challengers Romania stumbled against Holland. Italy were awarded a penalty in the 24th minute when Eric Abidal committed a last-man foul on Luca Toni. Andrea Pirlo made no mistake from the spot to put Italy in front. Daniele De Rossi ensured the win two minutes past the hour mark through a deflected free-kick. Italy's win, combined with Romania's 2-0 defeat to Holland, put them among the last eight in the elite tournament. The Azzurri finished second in Group C with four points, five behind leaders Holland, who maintained their 100% record at the expense of Romania. Romania are third on two points while France have been eliminated after collecting just one point. Italy will face Spain in the quarter-final as the latter are guaranteed a last-eight berth as Group D winners. Abidal Role France coach Raymond Domenech surprisingly introduced Abidal as a centre back instead of the below-par Lilian Thuram. But Donadoni may have regretted his choice shortly after kick-off when a poor marking by the Barcelona man almost gifted Italy an early opener. A long ball eluded Abidal and fell to Toni, who opted to shoot immediately although he had an opportunity to edge closer to Gregory Coupet's goal. The Bayern Munich's man low shot went wide of the post. France were dealt a major blow when Franck Ribery sustained what looked like a serious ankle injury.
He fell awkwardly while trying to dispossess Gianluca Zambrotta. The Bayern Munich winger was replaced by Samir Nasri. Abidal's poor marking led to him being sent off in the 24th minute to widen France's misery. He brought down Toni whilst the latter was going clear on goal after superbly controlling De Rossi's long ball. Pirlo stepped up to fire the ball high into the top left-hand corner of the net. Toni, who was guilty of squandering several clear-cut opportunities, came close to doubling Italy's advantage in the 28th minute. He met Antonio Cassano's right-wing cross with a superb acrobatic effort that narrowly missed the target. Fabio Grosso was unlucky not to put Italy further ahead one minute before the break when the woodwork denied his fierce free kick after Coupet got a hand to it. Hopes Shattered France's hopes were shattered when De Rossi added the second for Italy in the 62nd minute. His low free-kick from 30 meters deflected off the unfortunate Thierry Henry and looped in the net after wrong-footing Coupet. In the 74th minute, Italy's in-form guardian Gianluigi Buffon dived at full stretch to superbly block Karim Benzema's powerful drive from underneath the crossbar. Italy held on to set-up a meeting with Spain in the quarter-finals. However, they will have to play without two of their influential men as Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso will miss the game after picking up a second yellow card.
