The 2-0 win lacked the passion and drama of their previous matches - notably the World Cup Semi-final in France in 1998 - as the visitors dominated midfield through Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps.

'We came across a better team tonight, they deserved this victory,' said Croatian coach Miroslav 'Ciro' Blazevic, who was booed by fans in the half-empty stands of the Maksimir stadium.

Pires opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when he put away a loose ball from five metres after young Croatian goalkeeper Zeljko Pavlovic had initially saved an angled Thierry Henry shot.

Pavlovic came on from the bench after 10 minutes in place of veteran goalkeeper Drazen Ladic, who took his retirement from international soccer at the age of 37 with 59 caps to his name.

Pavlovic saved Croatia from worse embarrassment as he blocked a series of attempts, first from in-form Henry and later from Trezeguet, who had come on as substitute for Pires.

Croatia came closest to scoring in the 68th minute when Davor Suker's lob hit the woodwork and Mario Stanic put the rebound against Fabien Barthez's right-hand post.