"We are very proud to have come this far with the desire we have shown," said Italy coach Marcello Lippi at a press conference here Thursday on the eve of their quarterfinal against Ukraine in Hamburg.

"Now we have a great chance to go further and be one of the best four teams in the world. It would be fantastic."

Lippi believes the flack his team have taken for being less adventurous than Italian teams of the past is undeserved given their excellent form over the past year, including a 4-1 win over Germany and a 3-1 defeat of Holland in World Cup warm-up matches.

"In my opinion these comments have been exaggerated," said the 58-year-old whose team are unbeaten in their last 22 internationals.

"During the past year the press have been raving about our performances and now they are criticising us just because of the last couple of matches. I don't understand how their minds can change so quickly."

Lippi responded with heavy irony to suggestions that Italy have been very lucky to reach the last eight.

"Yeah, I've really had a lot of luck," he said.

"I lost Francesco Totti three months before the World Cup began and we weren't sure if he was going to recover in time.

"Then we lost Gianluca Zambrotta for 15 days, and then Gennaro Gattuso and Alessandro Nesta got injured. This kind of luck is unprecedented."

Lippi stressed the need for his team to be aware of the whole Ukraine team and not only worry about striker Andriy Shevchenko, who terrorised Serie A defences for seven years with AC Milan before joining Chelsea last month.

"Obviously Shevchenko is their best known player, their most important player and a world class champion," he said.

"They have lots of good players and they are going to be a tough obstacle.

"After losing to Spain in their first match, they have won three games without conceding a goal."

If Italy beat Ukraine, they will face either hosts Germany or Argentina in the semifinals in Dortmund.

Italy have met Ukraine on three previous occasions. They beat them home and away in qualification matches for the 1996 European championships and the teams played out a goalless draw in a friendly last month.