(Reuters) -Italy may have suffered a 3-1 defeat in their final Women's Euros Group B game against Spain on Friday, but the result still allowed them to progress to the knockout stage of the competition, prompting tears of joy from coach Andrea Soncin.
A 1-0 win over Belgium seemed to get the tournament off to a perfect start for the Azzurre but a 1-1 draw with Portugal in their second game, with Spain still to play, made for a few nervous days in the Italian camp.
In the end, Portugal were beaten 2-1 by Belgium, allowing the Italians to finish second on four points and set up a meeting with Group A winners Norway in Geneva next Wednesday.
"It is an indescribable emotion, sorry, because I don't even know what words to use. It's something magical, this is the passion we all put into it,"a tearful Soncin told Italian broadcaster RAI.
"We wanted to write the story, we are doing it, our dream continues because we want to stay here in Switzerland for a long time."
Soncin's side took the lead in the 10th minute but they were then dominated by Spain for the remainder of the contest, unable to build any threatening attacks with the precious little possession they managed.
"There is so much joy, so much emotion. The credit goes entirely to the girls, because after the draw with Portugal it wasn't easy to pick ourselves back up," Soncin explained.
"Many ghosts from the past had emerged but, as they have done for the past two years with me, they immediately pushed them aside."
Italy goal-scorer Elisabetta Oliviero summed up her side's qualification for the last eight in poetic terms.
"We believed despite the defeat. I think it is the most beautiful defeat of my life," she said.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, additional reporting by Trevor Stynes; editing by Clare Fallon)
