World champions Italy beat France 2-0 in Zurich to set up a repeat of the 1994 World Cup quarterfinal clash against Luis Aragones' side. Both Italy and France came into the game looking for three points, but both had to hope for the Netherlands to continue their impressive performance against Romania in the other game.

Domenech started with Govou on the right, and dropped Malouda, with Ribery on the left flank. Eric Abidal partnered Gallas in central defence instead of Lilian Thuram. Young Francois Clerc took up Willy Sagnol's right back position. Italy started with the unpredictable Antonio Cassano instead of Alessandro Del Piero.

France suffered a blow in the seventh minute, when Ribery, arguably their best player on show in the tournament, was stretchered off after a clash with Gianluca Zambrotta. Samir Nasri replaced him, but France were dealt another blow when Abidal brought down Luca Toni in the box. Lubos Michel immediately gave him the marching orders, and Nasri was the unfortunate man to be taken off, with Jean Alain Boumsong replacing him. Andrea Pirlo found the top corner, and the Italians were ahead. With only ten men on the pitch, France had taken one step closer to getting knocked out of Euro 2008.

Italy could easily have scored more, but Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni seemed to have forgotten his scoring boots home. He caused all sorts of problems for the makeshift French defence, but was unable to add his name to the scoresheet. Four minutes prior to halftime, Andrea Pirlo got his name into the referee's book for fouling Karim Benzema. It means Pirlo will miss Italy's quarterfinal against Spain.

As news trickled in from Berne that Huntelaar had put the Dutch ahead, the Italian fans heaved a sigh of relief. Eight minutes later Daniele de Rossi made sure of victory when he blasted home a thirty yard effort that took a massive deflection of Thierry Henry into the French net.

France tried, but did not really test Buffon. Karim Benzema came very close once, but Buffon was up to the task.

And when the final whistle blew, the Italians were delighted, while the French looked disappointed and unhappy. Great escape for the Italians after nearly being sent out by Romania, and even without Pirlo and Gattuso, they will fancy their chances against Spain.