1845: And then of course there are the Euro 2008 omens. Not a single group winner has yet triumphed in a quarter-final. And the three teams who rested players in their final group games - Croatia, Holland and Portugal - have all gone home. "The team are convinced they can win, they will play 110%," says coach Luis Aragones. "I know that if the team has to 'die' on the field, they will."
1841: And there's more: Spain haven't beaten Italy in a competitive game for 88 years. They come into this match on a record-equalling run of nine straight wins. The last time they managed a sequence like that, in 1927, they lost their next game to… Italy. "All that is past," says Spain's star striker David Villa, not unreasonably. "This is a completely new match. If they want to beat us they have to play better than us."
1836: But I wouldn't want to be a Spain fan right now. Nothing against Spain of course, a country that is very close to my heart. But if you believe in omens, almost every single one is pointing to an Italy win tonight. Let's start with the date. Spain have gone out of three major championships on 22 June, the World Cups of 1986 and 2002 and Euro '96 - all in the quarter-finals, all on penalties.
