Italy coach Marcello Lippi dedicated his side's 3-0 World Cup quarter-final victory over Ukraine to former Azzurri defender Gianluca Pessotto, who is seriously ill in hospital.

Pessotto has undergone several operations after a fall from a window at Juve's club headquarters and Lippi took the time to dedicate the win to one of his former charges.

He said: "We have to try with all our strength and heart. Speaking of that, the lads and I dedicate this victory to Gianluca Pessotto.

"We are close to him and his family and hope he can soon come back to celebrating with us. We are all thinking of him and them.

"I am very satisfied with this performance, we played really well. It's a great victory.

"I'm really happy and really proud of what the players did, but now we have to look forwards to the next match."

Of the meeting with Germany in the semi-finals, man of the match Gianluca Zambrotta added: "We're very satisfied to reach the next round.

"It was a tricky match but we put in an extraordinary performance. Now we're expecting a very difficult match from Germany in the semis."