Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin admitted his relief after his side survived the "Russian roulette" of penalties to edge past Switzerland in the second round. Blokhin's side will now face Italy in Hamburg on Friday in the quarter-finals after they won the shoot-out 3-0, following a 0-0 draw in normal time.
And he said: "The teams were equal and had equal chances to win. We just had more luck. Like Russian roulette."
The 53-year-old added: "I didn't watch the penalties. I couldn't take it."
A turgid game finally brought some excitement in the shoot-out as Switzerland missed all three of their spot-kicks, Ukraine keeper Oleksandr Shovkovsky saving twice.
But Blokhin admitted his nerves were so bad, he did not even determine who would take the crucial penalties.
 | We do not have the greatest players, but we make up for by playing with a lot of heart |
"After extra time I just told my team 'you have to settle this amongst yourself who is going to take the penalties'," he said.
"But anyway, it's not important who scored the goal. The whole team played."
Captain Andriy Shevchenko, who missed his own penalty, added: "We suffered a lot and we're happy to have won for all Ukrainians."
And the new Chelsea signing insisted his side need not fear the Azzurri in the next round.
"We do not have the greatest players, but we make up for that by making sacrifices for each other, by playing with a lot of heart," he said.
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