Brute strength coarsened what promised to be a revealing illustration of football's finer skills as Italy made their way into the last 16 in the high humidity of the Stade de France yesterday.

In doing so, they preserved the heritage of a country which has seldom been far from the front when the chaff is sorted and the championship condenses into a test of the best.

And yet, the abiding memory of yesterday's game will be of one devalued by a recurring streak of meanness and a highly questionable performance by the English referee, Paul Durkin.

That Austria would seek to bridge a perceived gap in skill by attempting to impose their more physical style on the favourites was always in prospect. It still didn't quite prepare us for the rough and tumble which followed.

Within three minutes of the start, the name of the Austrian defender Wolfgang Feirsinger had gone into Durkin's notebook and from that point it deteriorated into a shambles, with players on both sides guilty of professional fouls which did nothing to enrich the competition.

In that kind of setting, Durkin's task was a thankless one. And yet the impression was of a man who wasn't always in control of the situation and who angered both sets of supporters in turn by whistling for some petty infringements and missing more serious ones.

For Italy, the satisfaction of victory was tempered by a knee injury which threatens to keep Alessandro Nesta out of the remainder of the championship. Nesta was carried off after only four minutes, but the depth of Cesare Maldini's reserves is such that he was able to summon the vastly experienced Giuseppe Bergomi as a replacement.

Earlier Maldini had bitten the bullet and dropped Roberto Baggio in order to play Alessandro Del Piero alongside Christian Vieri at the front of the team. Although Del Piero, sharp and immensely hungry, played well, one of the loudest cheers of the day greeted the announcement that he was being replaced by Baggio in the 76th minute.

The great man is not accustomed to the indignity of being told that his skills no longer warrant a place in the national team and Baggio's subsequent performance bore all the hallmarks of a player with a point to prove to his manager.

Wasting no time in getting to the heart of the action, he was among the Austrian defence almost immediately and a minute from the end of ordinary time was savouring one of the sweetest of all his many goals.

After springing the offside trap with the most precise of passes to Filippo Inzaghi, he ran like a stag to be in position for the return ball. With goalkeeper Michael Konsel standing still, he had the easiest of chances to knock the ball home.

That was the insurance goal for Italy and, as it transpired, they needed it. In each of their two earlier games, the Austrians had looked defeat in the eye and summoned the inspiration for late equalisers.

They scored again in injury time yesterday, Andreas Herzog converting a doubtful penalty. But at that point it was of no more than academic interest. Italy had the game won and with it a place in the knock-out stages.

Christian Vieri's opening goal in the 49th minute settled Italian nerves at a time when, for all the varied talents of Luigi Di Biagio, Dino Baggio and Gianluca Pessotto in midfield, they were finding it increasingly difficult to entice Austria's big forthright defence into serious error.

Del Piero curved the free in from the left and when the ball cleared Toni Polster, Vieri was perfectly placed to make the decisive short range header. For an Austrian defence which performed so bravely for most of the game, both goals were giveaways and afterwards manager Herbert Prohaska questioned the referee's decision in allowing them.

In the end, there was little doubt that the more gifted team had won, but sadly with little of the panache of earlier Italian sides. It's a point which is certain to occupy Cesare Maldini's thoughts over the next 72 hours.