Spain, for so long the perennial under-achievers, grabbed an astonishing victory with two injury-time goals to top Group C and reach the Quarter-finals.

But UEFA will now conduct an inquiry after Veissiere was pelted with missiles by Yugoslav hooligans, one of whom breached the security cordon, running almost a hundred yards unchallenged before being stopped by Alfonso, the scorer of the goal that so sensationally took his country into the last eight.

The referee, his back turned, was already wiping away blood when Alfonso stepped in to save him.

The defeat relegated Yugoslavia to second place in the group and the Serbian supporters - already angered over the dismissal of Slavisa Jokanovic in the 64th minute - erupted in fury at the final whistle.

Yugoslavian coach Vujadin Boskov admitted: 'It was a very bad gesture of our supporters to throw coins at the referee.'

A UEFA official said: 'The referee was cut. He was struck by a coin. The wound was bleeding but it is not a serious wound and he should recover quickly.'

Riot police also had to charge Yugoslav fans below one of the stands in the Jan Breydel Stadium as they left the ground. The scenes of thuggery despoiled the most exciting match of Euro 2000 and police were on full riot alert in the Belgian town of Bruges.

Before the disgraceful scenes at the end both teams produced a performance of compelling excitement and, when the referee's assistant held up his electric board to signify five minutes of added time, Spain were out of the tournament, losing 3-2 while Slovenia and Norway were drawing 0-0, meaning the Scandinavians would have gone through.

Indeed, after Yugoslavia were reduced to ten men, they took the lead for the third time in the match, Slobodan Komljenovic slamming home a close-range effort in the 75th minute.

Even with the extra man, Spain seemed to lose spirit as the Yugoslavs marshalled themselves. But, three minutes into stoppage time, Abelardo was brought down in a penalty- box ruck and Gaizka Mendieta scored with the kick.

Even so, it still seemed unlikely that Jose Camacho's side could muster the inspiration to claim victory. With the seconds ticking away Abelardo produced an overhead kick, Guardiola met the ball with his head and Alfonso - scorer of his side's first equaliser in the first half - leapt into the air to volley spec-tacularly past Ivica Kralj.

In a match crammed with flashes of brilliance and full of stunning goals Yugoslavia went ahead in the 30th minute, Savo Milosevic claiming his fourth goal of the tournament with a fierce downward header.

Yugoslavia again took the lead in the 50th minute, Dejan Govedarica spearing the ball low past Santiago Canizares but 60 seconds later Pedro Munitis clipped the ball over the goalkeeper and it seemed that Spain, who looked like blowing it on the big stage again, might be on their way to victory after Jokanovic's dismissal.

But, while the Yugoslavs were the ones celebrating after Komljenovic's strike, the Spaniards rode their luck to finally prove that they are one of Europe's most forceful soccer nations.

'We came here to win this game,' said Camacho afterwards. 'We could have won in the 15th, 20th, 30th or final minute. We won it in the last minute. That's football.

'Sitting on the bench, there were only two minutes left and the boys told me we still have a chance. They were right,' he added. 'We had many goal opportunities. It would have been unjust if we didn't win.'

Goalscoring hero Alfonso admitted: 'It was a great party with many goals and much emotion. We're going to keep our feet firmly on the ground despite the euphoria we're feeling now.

'After the second goal, I thought of all the satisfaction of all the people in Spain,' said the Betis striker, whose team-mate, Barcelona's Josep Guardiola was equally euphoric.

'This is the most important match I have ever played,' said Guardiola. 'This shows that in football the difference between heaven and hell is in one minute.'

Yugoslav goalkeeper Ivica Kralj was thankful that his team made it to the last eight after such a late fright.

'The most important thing is that we reached the quarterfinals, the top eight teams in Europe, ' he said. 'The good thing is that we are scoring many goals and the bad thing is that we are conceding many.'

YUGOSLAVIA (4-4-2): Kralj; Komljenovic, Djukic, Mihajlovic, Djorovic (Stankovic, 19min); Stojkovic (Saveljic, 69), Jokanovic, Jugovic (Govedarica, 47), Drulovic; Mijatovic, Milosevic. Booked: Komljenovic, Jokanovic, Stankovic, Stojkovic, Saveljic. Sent off: Jokanovic.

SPAIN (4-4-2): Canizares; Salgado (Munitis, 47), Abelardo, Paco (Urzaiz, 65), Sergi; Mendieta, Guardiola, Helguera, Fran (Molina, 17); Alfonso, Raul. Booked: Sergi.

Man-of-the-match: Alfonso.