UEFA look certain to probe the behaviour of the Portuguese players after they crashed out of Euro 2000 last night, losing to a Golden Goal penalty by France.

Portugal's players were incensed at the penalty, awarded by Slovakian linesman Igor Sramka. Their protests held up play for five minutes as they surrounded Sramka. Zinedine Zidane eventually took the penalty that earned France a place in Sunday's final.

That brought the match to a halt, but fourth official Hugh Dallas of Scotland had to protect the linesman from further protests.

Nuno Gomes was given a red card after the game for pushing the official and substitute Paulo Bento appeared to spit in his direction.

UEFA will look at video evidence but could impose as much as an eight match ban on Gomes, the 23-year-old Benfica striker, ruling him out of the World Cup qualifying campaign for

UEFA will also wait for the reports of referee Gunter Benko of Austria and Dallas before punishing any other players.

That may include Everton's Abel Xavier, who was adjudged to have handled the low shot from Sylvain Wiltord that led to the penalty..

His disparaging comments about the linesman will not be well received. Xavier said: 'How can it be possible to have an official from Slovakia? Surely there was somewhere else in Europe that has a referee with a big reputation. They could only go to Slovakia?

'We lost the game in a way we didn't expect. It was unfair - but France are a big country and we are only small. As for the penalty, the ball was fast and I was going in to make a tackle. It is impossible to have straight arms when you are going down on to the floor. Then the ball hit me. It was not intentional.'

Arsenal's French striker Thierry Henry, whose third goal of the finals levelled for France after Gomes had given Portugal a first-half lead, said: 'I don't feel sorry for them. If they had got the victory in the same way that we did, they wouldn't feel sorry for us.

The French striker, certain to keep his place for Sunday's final against Holland or Italy, added: 'My goal? I was a bit lucky because the shot went through the legs of Fernando Couto. But what this French team has is great character.'