And tonight he believes his Italy side can do a similar job on "world's best" Germany.

Before the tournament began Italy were being derided as one of the weakest sides they had put together in living history.

But Chelsea bound Conte has welded them into solid unit while masterminding a run to the last eight after topping Group E and and the seeing off the title holders 2-0 with seemingly no trouble at all.

World Champions Germany will be a much tougher nut to crack.

They have not yet conceded a goal at the tournament and looked to be running into ominous form as they smashed Slovakia 3-0 in their last 16 clash.

But Conte is quietly confident Italy can prove their critics wrong all over again and beat the side he reckons to be the best on the planet.

"We did something extraordinary against Spain and tomorrow we have to do something even more extraordinary," he said.

"We have a lot of respect for Germany, they are the number one side in the world, but we will try and play our hand as we did against Spain.

"We are well aware of our strengths and those of our opposition.

"If you can bring together talent and organisation like they have, you have a heady mix.

"It's no surprise they're world champions. They are the best team in the world.

"When we started our journey we had little credibility in the eyes of the Italian press and the international media.

"Everyone thought it was the dark days regarding talent in the Italian game.

"We've shown that through hard work, organisation and having 23 top players willing to work hard, we can overcome obstacles that appear difficult from the start."

Germany have never beaten Italy in four attempts at major tournaments, including the Euro 2012 semi-final against Joachim Lowe's much fancied side in Warsaw.

And keeper Gianluigi Buffon said: "There are a number of parallels between tomorrow's match and the previous Euros.

"On paper, the gap between the two sides could be even greater considering they've won the World Cup in the meantime.

"We know there will be difficulties but we're ready to meet them head on."