#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $data;
{
     local $/;       # Slurp-Mode
     $data = <DATA>;
}

if ( $data =~ m~<span[^>]*id="Historybar1_lbHistBar"[^>]*>
                 (
                  (?:
                   <span[^>]*>(?:(?!</span>).)+</span>
                   |
                   (?!</span>).
                  )+
                 )
                ~xs
    )
{
     print "Treffer:\n$1\n";
}
else {
     print "Kein Treffer.\n";
}


_ _ DATA _ _
<p>Dies ist ein Auszug aus einem <span class="xxx">m&ouml;glichen</span>
HTML-Dokument.</p>

<p>
<span id="Historybar1_lbHistBar" class="path">
<a class="path" href="../../main/default.aspx?lang=EN">xyz.com</a>
/
<a class="path" href="../../main/automotive/default.aspx?lang=EN&cat=Automotive">Automotive</a>
/
<span>Products & solutions</span>
/
<span>Acoustic know-how</span></span>
</p>

<p><span class="xxx"><span class="y">Ein</span> weiterer
dummer <span class="z">Testtext</span></span>.</p>