Italy knocked Belgium out of EURO 2020 with a 2-1 victory in the quarter-finals on Friday evening at the Allianz Arena.
Kevin de Bruyne was back in the side after suffering an injury in the win over Portugal, while Italy coach Roberto Mancini handed a start to Federico Chiesa.
The Italians had the ball in the back of the net when Leonard Bonucci poked home from close range on 13 minutes, but the goal was ruled out for an offside on Chiellini in the build-up.
The Belgians upped the tempo thereafter as De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were both superbly denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma at the midway point of the half.
However, Italy eventually got their reward on 30 minutes when Belgium's failure to clear allowed Nicolo Barella to create space before firing into the far corner.
The lead was doubled on 44 minutes when Lorenzo Insigne was given time and space to curl a sublime effort into the top corner from around 20-yards out.
Belgium were given a lifeline on the stroke of halftime after Jeremy Doku won a penalty after being brought down in the box, which allowed Lukaku to convert and reduce the deficit.
The Red Devils should have levelled matters on the hour mark when De Bruyne picked out Lukaku out the far post, but the striker's cuffed effort was denied by Leonardo Spinazzola at the far post.
Doku, who was Belgium's liveliest player, went close to pulling his side level on 83 minutes after skipping past three challenges but his powerful effort sailed inches over the crossbar.
In the end, the Azzurri were able to see off the threat from Belgium to book a spot in the semi-finals.
Switzerland 1-1 Spain (Spain won on penalties)
Spain have progressed to the semi-finals of EURO 2020 after defeating Switzerland on penalties in St. Petersburg on Friday evening.
La Roja got off to the perfect start when Jordi Alba's volley from the edge of the box took a wicked deflection off Denis Zakaria and sailed into the net on eight minutes for the own goal.
The Swiss' pursuit of an equaliser suffered a blow on 20 minutes when star forward Bree Embolo picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Ruben Vargas.
Switzerland saw a bit more of the ball as the first half wen on but they struggled to carve out clear-cut chances, with Akanji going close with a header that sailed over the bar six minutes before the break.
The Swiss upped the tempo in the second half and carved out an opening for Steven Zuber on 64 minutes but Spain goalkeeper Unai showed good reflexes to keep out the strike at the near post.
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They got their reward four minutes later after a mix-up between Aymeric Laporte and Pau Torres allowed Ruben Freuler to pick out Xherdan Shaqiri, who slotted into the far corner.
That proved to be Freuler's final action as he was sent off in the 76th minute for a dangerous challenge on Gerardo Moreno, which was the sixth red card of the tournament.
With neither side able to find a winning goal in the final 15 minutes, the clash went to extra-time where the Spaniards squandered a couple golden chances as they looked to take advantage of the numbers game.
That was not meant to be as the game was to be decided by a penalty shoot-out, where Spain held their nerve to triumph 3-1 for a spot in the last four.
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