Its just wo years to the day since Spain they beat Germany Euro 2008 finals to become champions. Vicente del Bosque's teamed showed class with their flowing and effective passing game to edge out their Portuguese neighbours.
Portugal will rue a succession of missed chances in the first half, as David Villa broke the deadlock in the 63rd minute with his fourth goal of the tournament, a well taken rebound from his initial shot on goal.
Ricardo Costa sent off for an off-the-ball clash with Joan Capdevila before the end but by then their fate already looked sealed.
Spain, who play Paraguay in the last eight, must have concerns over Fernando Torres lack of form, who seems to still be feeling the after-effects of the knee operation he had in April.
Torres did play his part in a bright start by Spain, cutting into the area and testing Eduardo with a curling shot, but he quickly faded and Portugal had the best openings before half-time.
Villa had also brought a fine save out of Eduardo early on, while Xavi fired a first-time shot over from a corner but, after surviving those scares, Carlos Queiroz's side not only found a way of keeping Spain at arms length, they also began to threaten at the other end.
Twice Cristiano Ronaldo tried his luck from long range with free-kicks, and on the second occasion Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas could not hold on to the ball and Gerard Pique had to mop up.
Casillas looked jittery again when he parried a pile-driver by Tiago and had to race to beat Hugo Almeida to the ball, which was dropping towards the net.
Almeida somehow missed the target after rising to meet Simao's inviting deep cross, while Tiago wasted another good opening when he nodded wide from Fabio Coentrao's driven centre.
Portugual failed to seriously test Casillas again after that, but it still took the introduction of striker Fernando Llorente, who came off the bench for the ineffective Torres just before the hour mark, to spark Spain into life.
Within minutes, Llorente met a Sergio Ramos cross with a diving header that went straight at Eduardo, who was relieved when Villa bent a shot round his post from the outside of the box soon afterwards.
The crowd sensed that the Spanish were in the ascendancy, and in their next attack, Xavi's clever backheel played in Villa, who had his first shot saved but lifted the rebound into the roof of the net.
Del Bosque's men grew in confidence after taking the lead and, with Ronaldo very quiet, Portugal seemed run out of ideas and just couldn't find an equaliser.
Spain should have added a second to their one goal tally with Eduardo saving from Ramos and Villa, while the ever present Llorente headed wide.
One goal decided it in the end and Spain will feel confident matched up against Paraguay in the quarter finals. Paraguay could give the Spanish a lesson in humility and are certainly not a team to be taken lightly
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