France had struck first in what was building into a memorable match in Bruges through a Zinedine Zidane free-kick on 32 minutes, only for Lilian Thuram's foul on Pedro Munitis soon afterwards to give Spain a penalty which was converted by Gaizka Mendieta.

Former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka was left out of France's starting line-up as the 1988 World Cup winners rejigged their formation to take on Spain, the perennial under-achievers of major tournaments.

Christophe Dugarry, who impressed in France's final group game - a 3-2 defeat for their second-string side by Holland - was instead preferred in an attacking midfield role behind Thierry Henry, while Highbury team-mate Emmanuel Petit was ruled out through injury.

Djorkaeff and Zidane were also pushing forward, yet - with several hundred Dutch fans in the ground still celebrating their own thrashing of Yugoslavia - it was Patrick Vieira who had France's first chance as he headed Zidane's free-kick over the bar.

Henry weaved around three defenders only to slice his shot wide, while Dugarry also headed over.

However, the French advantage in possession was marginal as Spain, who only secured their last-eight place with a thrilling comeback against Yugoslavia, were just about holding their own amid some fearsome tackling.

Only a perfectly-timed interception by Agustin Aranzabal disrupted a flowing move involving Zidane and Didier Deschamps, while Dugarry's slightly deflected effort was comfortably saved by Santiago Canizares.

However, even without Fernando Hierro again through injury, captain Abelardo was still an imposing figure at the centre of the Spanish defence.

And as the game became slightly more open, his side also showed their attacking qualities on the break as Alfonso fed Raul, who instinctively turned and shot immediately.

He almost caught keeper Fabien Barthez off his line but the Manchester United recruit just recovered in time to tip the ball over the bar, while Spanish appeals for handball inside the penalty area by Zidane then went unheeded.

While France were continuing to leave space for the Spanish to exploit on the counter-attack, Dugarry's incisive pass looked to have set up Zidane to break the deadlock on 31 minutes only for the inspirational midfielder to completely miss his kick in front of goal.

In one sense, that was the worst possible thing that could have happened to Spain for Zidane reacted to the indignity of that missed chance by responding with a superbly-struck free-kick just a minute later.

After Djorkaeff had been brought down just five yards outside the penalty area, Zidane stepped up and unleashed a shot which beat keeper Canizares for sheer power more than anything else to put France ahead.

The French were unable to hold onto that advantage for any longer than five minutes, however, before Thuram took away Munitis' legs from under him for what looked a definite penalty.

And Spanish midfielder Mendieta, who had equalised with a spot-kick in injury-time against Yugoslavia earlier this week, rolled his shot into the net with considerable aplomb to level the scoreline.

That looked to be enough to take Spain into the interval on level terms only for Djorkaeff to pounce onto Vieira's through-ball with just a minute of the first-half left and rifle home a drive of the highest quality into the top corner from a relatively tight angle.