World champions France were given the fright of their lives yesterday by the worst team in Europe and needed a late penalty by Chelsea's Frank Leboeuf to beat Andorra in Barcelona.

On Saturday France's qualification hopes had been hit by a 3-2 home defeat - their first at home as World Cup holders.

France coach Roger Lemerre, already with three key players ruled out through injury, had omitted several of his key stars for this fixture, played in Barcelona's Montjuic Stadium as Andorra did not have the facilities to stage the match.

After 25 minutes France were rocked by the sending-off of Marseille's Christophe Dugarry. Dugarry went down in the Andorran penalty area claiming a penalty after an innocuous challenge. Northern Ireland referee Michael Ross refused it and as Dugarry was surrounded by angry Andorran defenders he foolishly raised his hands to one, making contact and leaving Ross with no option but to dismiss him.

Andorra were employing a blanket defence which 10-man France were finding hard to break down and Anelka squirted a rare half-chance wide.

In the second half, France continued to dominate and should have scored when Wiltord's shot came back off the post, only for substitute Robert Pires to blast the rebound wide.

Just as all seemed lost, Ross awarded a penalty, apparently for handball, as Anelka made a strong challenge for the ball after 86 minutes.