Germany enters the Olympic men's handball semifinals after beating Spain 32-30 on penalty shootouts in a breathtaking battle in Athens on August 24 evening.

The match lasted nearly three hours. Both sides were exhausted after regular time, two overtimes and a five-round shootout.

Spain, bronze medalists in the 2000 Sydney Games, led 16-15 at the half time and the second half was even more fierce, wherein neither of the two sides managing to exceed no more than two goal.

The game went to extra time after a 27-27 draw.

The Spaniards scored first in extra time thanks to a penalty by left back Iker Romero and kept the lead for nine minutes and 59 seconds.

Germany, however, was also awarded a penalty at the last second and forced a second overtime.

The Spanish side led a comfortable 2-0 into the second half of the second overtime, when Christian Schwarzer played the savior for Germany and scored twice in the last four minutes to level.

It was a surprise that all of the first four shots in the penalty shootouts were saved by goalkeepers.

German Torsten Jansen broke the deadlock and Frank von Behren sealed the victory on Germany's last shot. Spain missed all of their four shots.

Germany will face the winner of the France-Russia match on Friday.

Germany has taken part in all nine previous Olympic tournaments. In Sydney, the Germans finished in fifth place.

They qualified for the Athens Olympics by finishing second in the 2003 world hampionships, a big improvement on their eighth place at the 2001 championships.

Spain has participated in seven previous Olympic tournaments. They won the bronze medal both in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

The Spaniards placed fourth in the world championships last year, losing to France 22-27, but still secured a place for Athens.