It was far from vintage Spain, but yet somehow, the World and European champions found a way past an unlucky Italy to book their place in a dream final against Brazil.

The match in Fortaleza did not see any goals from open play, with the semifinal eventually going down to a penalty shootout.

Jesus Navas was the hero, and Leonardo Bonucci, unfortunately, the man that everyone will remember as the person who missed the only penalty of the game.

Twelve penalties were converted by both sides, leaving the score at 6-6, before Bonucci fired his attempt over the bar.

Navas, the newly minted Manchester City winger, stepped up knowing if he converted, Spain were through to the final, and he made no mistake, firing in a perfect penalty low into the left-hand corner to give Spain a 7-6 win.

"This generation is unforgettable. Luckily for the Spanish, we have seen another win and we're in the final," Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas told Tele-5.

"The truth is it was very difficult to win. Italy had made an excellent approach. We tested (Gianluigi) Buffon as well but they placed us in trouble.

"The thing about the shootout is it is a lottery and we have been lucky enough to win. My teammates have had full success on the penalties and they missed one."

Earlier, it was Italy that got off to a flying start, creating quite a bit of chances and leaving Spain hanging on.

Christian Maggio found himself one-on-one with Casillas, only for the Spain veteran to thwart the attempt, before Daniele De Rossi headed just wide off an Andrea Pirlo freekick.

Emanuele Giaccherini and Maggio were creating all sorts of problems to the Spain defence and a cross-field ball from the former found the latter, who nodded the ball back across to Claudio Marchisio. The Juventus midfielder, however, headed just wide.

Maggio then had a chance, but headed straight at Casillas off another cross from Giaccherini, before Spain started to get a grip of the game, retaining possession and slowing down the tempo considerably.

Fernando Torres came close with a strike that just went wide of Buffon's left-hand post as both teams went into halftime locked goalless.

The second half did not have too much to write about, as both sides had decent amounts of possession, but very little clearcut chances.

The match went inevitably into extra time and, during the 30-minute period both sides could have easily scored the winner.

Giaccherini and Maggio were the tormentors again, with Giaccherini this time smashing an effort onto the post after some good work from Maggio.

Sergio Ramos was then denied at the other end by some good defending from De Rossi, who played in defense in the second half, before Xavi Hernandez was denied by Buffon, who tipped the Barcelona midfielder's long-range effort onto the woodwork.

Penalties it was, and after 12 players converted, Bonucci missed, allowing Navas to grab the headlines for Spain.

Brazil now lie in wait in what promises to be a brilliant final at the Maracana on Sunday.

"Brazil are the favorites," Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque said. "They have five World Cups, three Confederations Cups, we're going to be facing them at the Maracana and we're excited to do so.

"We want to recover and get there in the best condition possible. In the next three days, we'll try to do so.

"Spain played 120 minutes tonight and they are players who usually play two matches a week, so we believe that we will be able to give it our all on Sunday.

"We don't know who will dominate, who will have more possession. We'll try to. Tonight, Italy were very strong and they held control of the match."