Roman Pavlyuchenko and Russia have a date with Spain in the semifinals. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Great goals, stunning saves and plenty of late drama — the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 provided plenty of talking points for fans of the beautiful game.

Here are just some of the highlights:

Biggest surprise: Few pundits gave Russia little chance of getting past the Netherlands, and for good reason. The Dutch were the class of the first round, finishing first in the "Group of Death" by thrashing world champion Italy 3-0 and following that up with a 4-1 destruction job of France. But Russia, coming off a big win itself over Sweden, beat the Dutch at its own game, the counter-attack, to carve out a thrilling 3-1 win in extra time. This was no fluke: the Russians were full value for the victory, playing some gorgeous and stylish soccer — forget about the stereotype of Russian soccer being clinical and mechanical — to upend the Dutch and send them packing.

Best team: Russia. See above.

Biggest letdown: Portugal was touted as one of the favourites, and why wouldn't they be with the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo? But after cruising through the first round, Portugal lost the plot in the quarter-finals, dropping a 3-2 decision to Germany. So what went wrong? Well, for starters, Ronaldo was far from his best, only showing brief flashes of brilliance after scoring 42 goals in all competitions for Manchester United this season. The true mark of a great player is his ability to elevate his game at the game's greatest stage, like Michel Platini did at Euro '84, or Maradona at the 1986 World Cup. Ronaldo didn't do that in Switzerland in Austria. The Portuguese star was contained for the most part at Euro, and he was unable to take his game to another level after such a great season for United. Scoring against the likes of Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa is one thing; scoring against Germany is quite another.

Best finish: The Turks appeared to be on the verge of elimination when substitute Ivan Klasnic scored for Croatia on a header in the 119th minute, capitalizing on a disastrous error by Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber. But the Turks refused to roll over and die, notching the equalizer minutes later when Semih Senturk smashed a shot into the top corner of the Croatian net with the final kick of the second extra period. Turkey went on to win 3-1 in a penalty shootout, a result that marked the third consecutive smash-and-grab victory by the Turks. Turkey needed an injury-time goal to earn a 2-1 win over tournament co-hosts Switzerland in the first round, and then followed that performance by scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes of regulation time in a stunning 3-2 win over the Czech Republic.

Best game: It has to be Germany's win over Portugal, a game that will go down in the history of the European Championships as a classic. Ninety minutes of regulation time saw five goals and end-to-end, frantic action with plenty of drama and memorable moments.

Best player: Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger. The Bayern Munich midfielder was a one-man wrecking crew against the Portuguese, scoring one goal and setting up two others. He was clearly the best player on the field, running himself ragged and leaving an indelible mark on the game with his incredible skills, and more than made up for being red carded in Germany's first-round loss to Croatia. Honourable mention goes to Andrei Arshavin, who was absolutely sublime against the Dutch and has transformed the Russian team after sitting out the first two games through suspension.

Best goal: Russian soccer cold and unimaginative? Nobody could still believe that myth, not after its win over the Netherlands, especially after the first goal of the game, which was the product of a lovely piece of Russian ingenuity. Andrei Arshavin sped down the left wing before feeding Sergei Semak who delivered a perfect cross into the middle of the Dutch box where Roman Pavlyuchenko volleyed the ball in at the near post. The goal was all the more impressive when you consider Pavlyuchenko hit the ball with the outside of his left foot while a Dutch defender was draped all over him.

Best save: With Spain and Italy tied 0-0 in the second extra-time period, the game appeared to be headed to penalty kicks. The Italians, playing defensively all game, were waiting for an opening and they found it when Antonio Di Natale broke free down the right side and fired a shot on the Spanish net that had goal written all over it. But Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas was equal to the task, athletically tipping the Italian's effort on goal over the crossbar. If not for Casillas' save, the Italians, who thwarted the Spanish forwards the entire contest, would surely have held onto its lead and advanced to the semifinals. Instead, justice was served, as Spain won in a penalty shootout, where Casillas made two more saves.