Spain enters quarterfinals beat Croatia 1-0 in Group C Croatia v Spain Euro Cup match

Spain beat Croatia 1-0 to enter Euro Cup 2012 quarterfinals

Spain enters the Euro 2012 quarter-finals after a 1-0 win against Croatia at the PGE Arena Gdansk on Monday.

Neither side seemed in any hurry to snatch the initiative throughout, with La Roja's famed tiki-taka football failing to break down a determined defensive barrier set up by Slaven Bilic's men.

The match seemed destined to end in a stalemate, but with two minutes remaining, substitute Jesus Navas walked the ball into the net to confirm Croatia's exit from the tournament.

With Croatia attempting to find the goal they needed to stay in the tournament, Cesc Fabregas - on for David Silva - picked out Andres Iniesta, who played the ball across the face of goal for Navas to seal the three points.

Defending Champions Spain progress as Group C winners on seven points while Italy join them as runners-up on five points after their 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland, who lost their three games at the finals. Croatia concluded on four points in third place. Now Spain and Italy will face one of France, England or Ukraine.

Vicente del Bosque named an unchanged line-up from the 4-0 win over Ireland, with two-goal hero Fernando Torres continuing as the lone presence in attack.

Bilic, meanwhile, made two alterations to his XI from the 1-1 draw with Italy, with Domagoj Vida and Danijel Pranjic coming in as replacements for Nikica Jelavic and Ivan Perisic.

The first half resembled a training session with Spain seeming to lack urgency and incision as Croatia’s decision to flood the midfield and operate with only Mario Mandzukic up front kept them in the game until the dying moments

Spain’s players and certainly their fans looked highly uncomfortable the longer the night staggered on as Casillas produced an excellent save to claw out an Ivan Rakitic header from Luka Modric’s cross on 59 minutes.

Pletikosa made saves from Iniesta and Navas in the closing eight minutes, but Croatia were suddenly proving to be a real threat as outgoing coach Slaven Bilic threw on Nikica Jelavic and Eduardo in the closing minutes to try to save the day.

However in the 88th minute, a swift attack saw Iniesta break free, where he squared to Navas for the simplest of goals.

Croatia rushed to respond, but with news of Italy's late second against Ireland rippling throughout the stadium, Bilic's men simply ran out of time.