WARSAW, Poland – Mario Balotelli finally showed some quality finishing, scoring twice Thursday to give Italy a 2-1 win over Germany and an unexpected spot in the European Championship final against champion Spain. Extending its winless streak against Italy in major tournaments to eight matches, Germany had no answer for Balotelli nor Antonio Cassano's creativity. In the 20th minute, Balotelli had no trouble getting past Holger Badstuber to head in a pinpoint cross from Cassano. Then in the 36th, the 21-year-old striker received the ball behind the defense and blasted a long shot into the top right corner. While he did score against Ireland, Balotelli was criticized for wasting numerous chances against Spain, Croatia and England. Germany failed to trouble Italy for much of the match, but Mesut Oezil scored a consolation penalty in injury time after Federico Balzaretti was whistled for a handball. Italy will face Spain in Sunday's final in Kiev, Ukraine – a rematch of their 1-1 draw that opened Group C. Spain yet to strike form Spain has not been at its scintillating best at Euro 2012 but ominously for its opponents in Sunday's final some rock solid defending means it will face Italy having conceded just one goal. The Italians managed to find the net against the world champion in their opening Group C game, a 1-1 draw in Gdansk, but since then Spain has calmly dealt with the best Ireland, Croatia, France and Portugal could throw at it. Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo was left a frustrated and forlorn figure following Wednesday's 4-2 semifinal penalty shootout defeat in Donetsk after some thought he might be the man to unlock a Spanish defense featuring his Real Madrid teammates Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Alvaro Arbeloa. The former World Player of the Year sent a low shot whistling past the post in the 31st minute but was otherwise restricted to a couple of free kicks which he blasted over the bar before he wasted a great chance to win the game in the 90th minute when he skewed a shot high and wide. Spain's goalless draw with Portugal before the shootout means it has kept a clean sheet in its last nine matches in the knockout stages of the European Championship and World Cup and the last team to score against it in a knockout game was France, who won 3-1 in the last 16 of the 2006 World Cup. As coach Vicente del Bosque pointed out, it's a pretty useful foundation on which to win matches. “We never go out there to defend and we are not a defensive team but we are performing pretty well there,” he added. Wednesday's success means Spain join the West Germany team of the 1970s as the only sides to reach three successive finals at European championships and world cups and it can eclipse the Germans, who lost the 1976 Euro final to Czechoslovakia, with victory in Kiev Sunday. — Agencies
