One last tantrum. Hagi walks in the quarter-final (SBotterill/Allsport)

Two first-half goals in the space of 10 minutes from Francesco Totti and Filippo Inzaghi earned the Italians a semi-final meeting with either Holland or Yugoslavia in Amsterdam on Thursday.

Hagi had been red-carded in Galatasaray's UEFA Cup final win over Arsenal in Copenhagen last month.

And the 35-year-old - in what could be his last game for his country - again suffered the same fate against Dino Zoff's side.

He was booked for dissent but got the red card after diving in vain for a penalty five minutes later on the hour mark.

With his dismissal ended Romania's hopes - although over the 90 minutes there was precious little to choose between the two sides.

But Italy seem to have acquired the winning knack again although the class of 2000 does not appear to be in the same bracket as some of their great sides of previous eras.

They were written off before the tournament but collected maximum points from their group and made it four wins out of four in the tournament against the Romanians.

Stefano Fiore and Totti were a handful for the Romanians but there has to be a question mark over their defence which was examined severely by Hagi and the player who could become his successor - Adrian Mutu.

Italy were the first to threaten and Inzaghi should have done better when he shot wide after Stefano Fiore turned the ball into his path.

But Romania then enjoyed the better of the game with Hagi stamping his class on proceedings in what could be his international swansong.

One tremendous pass picked out Adrian Mutu and it needed a fine tackle from Fabio Cannavaro to deny him after he had burst into the area.

Fiore half-volleyed over the bar and at the other end Francesco Toldo held on to a fierce deflected effort from Florentin Petre.

But the Italians broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute - although there was more than a suspicion of offside about the goal from Totti.

Fiore played the ball over the defence after a centre had only been half-cleared by the Romanians and Totti timed his run perfectly and slipped the ball wide of Stelea.

Lady luck then denied Romania an instant equaliser when Hagi seized on to a crossfield ball from Dorinel Munteanu, lobbed the ball over Toldo but saw his shot cannon back off a post.

Demetrio Albertini was yellow-carded for bringing down Hagi and Constantin Galca was only inches too high with a 20-yard volley.

But another incisive move by the Italians led to Inzaghi increasing their lead three minutes before the interval.

This time Albertini was the creator and Inzaghi raced clear of the Romanian defence before producing another piece of clinical finishing.

Romania opened the second half in positive mood but the dismissal of Hagi left them with a mountain to climb.

First he was booked for dissent after a foul on Antonio Conte. Then he went down in the penalty area and referee Melo Pereira claimed that he had dived and gave him his marching orders.

Still Romania refused to buckle despite their numerical disadvantage.

Toldo tipped over a fierce effort from substitute Ioan Ganea and Liviu Ciobotariu had a goal-bound effort blocked.

But Italy also looked dangerous when they counter-attacked with Inzaghi hitting the post with a 20-yard effort and then inexplicably shooting wide with the goal at his mercy.