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Hail 'Saint' Casillas

AFP, Madrid
The Spanish press were united in their relief on Monday that Spain had finally laid to rest their quarterfinal curse after they beat world champions Italy on penalties on Sunday.
'Publico' led the way in hailing the progress of Luis Aragones' players as they ended 88 years without a win in a competitive match against Italy and a series of penalty shootout losses in quarterfinals on June 22.
"Spain has laid to rest the curse," commented Publico.
"The two penalty saves by Iker (Casillas) saw Italy go out and handed a ticket for the semifinals to the Spanish team for the first time since 1984," it added referring to Spain's reaching the Euro '84 semis where they went on to the final only
to lose to hosts France.
'El Mundo' agreed with them, a fact underlined by King Juan Carlos who said exactly the same thing to Spanish TV on Sunday, and it also praised Casillas to the high heavens.
"Spain as a country has one less complex, that of its football team which had eaten away at national pride, in a modern country which has been incapable till now to reflect that progress in sport which is the metaphor for so many things," it added rather portentously.
Sports journal 'Marca' also gave Casillas the big thumbs up.
"Casillas laid to rest the ghosts," it wrote about the Real Madrid star.
"This is a goalkeeper that likes strong emotions, and he wanted this moment after three relatively easy group matches."
As ever, though, noted the paper the 'Furia Roja' had made it difficult for themselves.
"La Roja had possession and
several chances but were not able to ensure the victory until the last moment," wrote Marca.
Marca's rival 'AS' claimed that Spain had outclassed Italy and deserved victory, while Casillas was one of the heroes of the evening.
AS said that Casillas was 'perfect' and that Brazilian-born midfielder Marco Senna had been 'phenomenal'.
However, there were some rather less complimentary appraisals such as ‘El Pais' for example.
"Spain played for its future in the tournament on penalty kicks, which has traditionally not been lucky for them," said El Pais.
"Those came after a bad match against Italy, without any goals and barely any scoring chances."
'ABC was just glad that the old refrain would not be heard again.
"At least from today we will not hear the refrain: we played as well as we ever had and lost like we always do, in the quarterfinals'."