David Villa enhanced his reputation as the World Cup's outstanding striker with a late winner to give a below-par Spain a 1-0 victory over Paraguay.

The 28-year-old struck his fifth goal of the finals to send the perennial underachievers to their first-ever World Cup semi-finals.

Both sides contrived to miss penalties before Villa came up trumps after Andres Iniesta had carved out an opening for Pedro, who hit the post with his new Barcelona team-mate producing the perfect follow up. Spain now face Germany in the semi-finals.