Gianluigi Buffon feared England upset

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has admitted that he was scared of losing to England when their quarter-final meeting went down to penalties.

After a goalless 120 minutes, the Azzurri claimed a 4-2 shootout victory over the Three Lions after Ashley Young hit the crossbar and Ashley Cole had his penalty saved by Buffon.

Despite England's abysmal record in penalty shootouts, the Juventus stopper conceded that he was afraid of losing the contest.

"It is clear that I feared an upset, in the penalty shoot-out you can be lucky and win or unlucky and lose," said Buffon.

"With regards to the 120 minutes of action, we deserved the victory, we created more chances than them.

"After [Ricardo] Montolivo missed his penalty, I only thought that I should save as many as possible, because my team-mates deserved to win the match, and so did I."

Italy now face Germany on Thursday in the Euro 2012 semi-finals.