Villa strike seals victory for Spain

European champions Spain moved a step closer to adding the 2010 FIFA World Cup to their list of honours after David Villa buried his fourth goal of the tournament to take them past neighbours Portugal and into the quarter-finals.

The UEFA EURO 2008 winners will now face Paraguay in the last eight on 3 July after stepping up a gear around the hour mark to down opponents who owed much to goalkeeper Eduardo for keeping them in the encounter. Spain were seldom at their penetrative best, but they were good value for Villa's 63rd-minute breakthrough and ended the encounter comfortably on top.

Vicente del Bosque's troops men began the more impressively too, Fernando Torres obliging Eduardo to dive to his right with barely a minute gone and the in-form Villa rapidly weighing in with another pair of shots – both of which Eduardo needed to be alert to keep out. La Roja failed to maintain that early momentum, however, and as Portugal rose in confidence they started to test nervy No1 Iker Casillas, who first had to prevent Hugo Almeida from heading in after parrying a Tiago effort and then failed to claim a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick.

Carlos Queiroz's side were also creating danger down the flanks, particularly the left, from where Raul Meireles and Fábio Coentrão served up dangerous crosses headed off target by Almeida and Tiago respectively. After the break, it was Almeida's turn to make headway down the same channel, and his attempted pass deflected tantalisingly off Carles Puyol and beyond the far post.

Del Bosque's response was to send Fernando Llorente on for Torres and the Athletic Club striker made an immediate impact, plunging to connect with Sergio Ramos's right-wing cross only for Eduardo to save superbly. Spain sensed that their moment was nigh, however, and after Villa curled wide the same man then broke the deadlock at the second attempt, having been released inside the area by a delicious Xavi Hernández flick.

Beaten on that occasion, Eduardo was at least able to keep the score down by turning a low Ramos drive around the post and then beating away a Villa attempt en route for the top corner. The exit nonetheless beckoned for Portugal, who also lost Ricardo Costa to a late red card following a tangle with Joan Capdevila.