Italy now face Spain in Vienna on Sunday. While they go there without the suspended Andrea Pirlo and Rino Gattuso, both booked here for the second time, relief will swamp all other emotions for the World Cup holders.

That honour came with a shoot-out victory over these opponents in 2006. The subsequent decline of France has been steeper than that of Italy, although circumstances here were peculiar.

The teams started the evening at the Letzigrund Stadion as if their minds were elsewhere. Indeed those thoughts were bound for Berne and that other group match.

In this game there was muddle and, for one injured footballer, misfortune. Franck Ribéry went down awkwardly as he tangled with Gianluca Zambrotta and had to be substituted. France, ominously, had lost the most vigorous of the younger players and his replacement, Samir Nasri, was limited to a cameo.

He, too, was withdrawn as France struggled to regroup following the loss of Abidal. The Barcelona player is known primarily as a full-back and looked as if he had been pressganged into the centre-half role. He had been full of nerves even before the opener in the 25th minute.

Andrea Pirlo struck a pass in behind him and Abidal stopped Luca Toni by bringing him down. The dismissal required little thought from Lubos Michel.

Pirlo, too, seemed to have little weighing on his mind as he converted the penalty. Abidal’s brief presence in the back four was evidence of the alarm that the France coach had felt over this campaign.

The recriminations regarding the France coach, Raymond Domenech, were having the finishing touches applied before kick-off. Despite a sorry season with Barcelona, Lilian Thuram, 36, had been treated as mainstay for this tournament, but after suffering so severely against Holland he could not be allowed to start here.

Annoyance intensified among those who could not understand why there was no place for the Roma centre-back Philippe Mexès at this European Championship. Seeing Abidal’s misadventure will send the mood towards rage.

For Roberto Donadoni, Domenech’s Italian counterpart, the issues were not as specific, yet there was disappointment that his initial selection had been so ill-judged that half the line-up had to be ditched following the 3-0 loss to Holland.

At least the Italians detected some progress when they drew 1-1 with Romania. By and large, however, there were, to begin with, two teams at the Letzigrund that were no longer sure of themselves.

Domenech reinstated Karim Benzema in the hope that he might inject zest as Thierry Henry’s partner in attack. There was marginally less fidgeting with personnel from Donadoni, who made do with introducing Rino Gattuso and Antonio Cassano at the expense of Mauro Camoranesi and Alessandro del Piero.

Italy had more confidence even when numbers were equal. Indeed, their lead would have been large but for Toni’s clumsiness. He was through on several first-half occasions, starting with an opportunity permitted by Abidal in the fourth minute, but kept on firing wide.

France, once reduced in numbers, were inevitably limited. The sole blow to Italy before the interval was the yellow card for Pirlo.

In theory Romania, in the other fixture, were the only side with hope of preventing the Italians’ progress. Domenech, after all, had reacted to the dismissal of Abidal by retaining a full complement in defence with the introduction of Jean-Alain Boumsong. By taking off Nasri, though, France limited their prospects of getting the goals they needed.

There were half-chances, such as the volley sent high by Benzema in the 50th minute, but Italy’s dread lay purely with the game in Berne. The roars were loud therefore when the news came through that Holland had opened the scoring there. The problems being caused to Italy in Zurich had little to do with France.

Gattuso’s caution forced Donadoni to wonder what he should do with the make-up of his midfield in the quarterfinal, with two experienced members of it unavailable. Still that was a minor consideration when this fixture had looked as if it might end every Italian football player’s participation in the tournament.

The air of well-being was enhanced by a second goal in the 62nd minute. A free-kick was knocked to Daniele de Rossi and his 35 yarder was deflected into the net off Thierry Henry.

France hardly needed that to confirm this would be a wretched evening. The result: Italy 2 (Andrea Pirlo 25-pen, Daniele de Rossi 62) bt France 0. . <<back