GDANSK, Poland, June 18, (AFP): Defending champions Spain are into the quarter-finals of Euro 2012 after replacement Jesus Navas hit the late winner in their nervy 1-0 victory over Croatia, who bowed out on Monday. Spain qualify as Group C winners and will now play their quarter-final in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Saturday against the Group D runner-up, while Italy finish second thanks to their 2-0 win over Ireland in Poznen. Having come on for Chelsea star Fernando Torres in the second-half, Sevilla’s Navas hit the 88th-minute winner after Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez chipped the Croatian defence and Andres Iniesta provided the final pass. The World Cup winners top the group with seven points after their opening draw with Italy and 4-0 rout of Ireland, while there was heartbreak for Slaven Bilic’s Croatia. Spain coach Vicente del Bosque named an unchanged team, while Bilic abandoned the 4-4-2 formation he used in the opening win over Ireland and the draw with Italy for a 4-2-3-1 formation. As they had done in Thursday’s hammering of Ireland here, Spain started with almost 80 percent ball possession, which never dropped below 60, as Croatia seemed content to hit long balls down to lone striker Mario Mandzukic.

On a rare early forage into the Spanish half, Bayern Munich’s Danijel Pranjic fired a shot to the left of Spain goalkeeper Ilker Casillas, who dealt with the left-footed shot comfortably on 25 minutes.
Croatia defender Vedran Corluka was booked for dissent soon after as German referee Wolfgang Stark chose not to award a penalty appeal after Spain’s Sergio Ramos sliding tackle caught Mandzukic’s ankle.
It remained goalless at the break and news of Italy’s lead against Ireland raised the tension inside the Gdansk stadium rose noticeably as the second half wore on.
Croatia’s best chance came approaching the hour mark when Tottenham Hotspur’s Luka Modric crossed in for Ivan Rakitic’s header, but Casillas parried away their best chance of the game.
After a fairly ineffective first 60 minutes, Torres made way for Jesus Navas in the three-man forward line, but both sides squandered chances.
With time almost up, the decisive blow came when Xavi Hernandez floated his pass over the defence for his Barcelona team-mate Iniesta to draw Croatia’s goalkeeper Stipe Pleitkosa and put Spain in the last eight.

After a fine from UEFA for crowd trouble at their opening Euro 2012 match with Ireland, and amid a probe over racism during their game with Italy, Croatia could be back in the dock after fans hurled a flare in their final group fixture with Spain.
Adding to the danger, the flare was thrown by fans in an upper stand onto fellow Croatia supporters down below, forcing the latter to scramble clear.
Stewards in the Gdansk Arena rushed to remove the burning device from the crowd, as smoke curled over the Croatian net, with German referee Wolfgang Stark calling a brief halt to the match.
Despite the announcer’s appeals to fans to behave, Croatia supporters lit two further flares just five minutes into the second half, but Stark waved play on despite the smoke over the Spanish goal.
Another was set alight 10 minutes from the final whistle, after a Croatian attack in what was to be a 1-0 defeat by Spain.
On Friday, Croatia had been fined 25,000 euros ($31,400, 20,000 pounds) because their fans lit flares and let off smoke bombs to celebrate goals in their 3-1 win over Ireland in the Polish city of Poznan the previous Sunday.
A spectator also got on the pitch and missiles were thrown at that game.
On Tuesday, UEFA is due to announce its ruling over flares and fireworks, as well as racist abuse of Italian forward Mario Balotelli, who is black, during Croatia’s 1-1 draw with Italy last Thursday.