Italy enjoy view from cloud nine

Disbelief
Gueli struck twice while Pariri capped a fine performance with a second-half penalty as Corrado Corradini's team swept Sweden aside 4-0 in the last four. "It's difficult to describe," said Gueli. "I just can't believe it as it's a great success. I need time to come to get my head around it. We studied Sweden and the coach pointed out that their back line defends in a line so we should attack that." And how they did. The first two goals in Blois both came from long balls over a static defence but it was Italy's waspish attacking display that stood out, Sweden struggling to deal with their pace and energy.

No complacency
"The Swedish players are physically stronger than us so we tried to play faster, with the ball on the ground," explained Parisi, the instigator of much of her side's attacking play, before taking stock of Italy's progress. "We thought about the final before the tournament but we didn't expect to get there. We hoped, but we thought it would be beyond us. Now on Saturday we have to be at our best and the best team will win. Hopefully it will be us." Indeed, despite having broken new ground Italy are determined to suffer complacency, with Gueli concluding: "Obviously we are delighted with what we've done but our first priority is to get to grips with our getting through to the final. Then we need to perform."