In any competition this big, teams are entitled to start suffering from cases of the jitters when they're only one match off the final. The fact is that it's probably more a tribute than anything else to the quality of football produced by both the French and Portuguese prior to last night's game that this contest felt like such a let-down.

Both coaches made changes to their team selection and approach that you would have to see as defensive and that's understandable. What's equally easy to appreciate is that, in the end, it was France, the side who had triumphed on the biggest stage in the game, who came through to win.

The Portuguese are a fine team with several very impressive individuals but it's fairly hard to see how they would have had the grit to go a goal behind in a match of this importance but still come back to win it.

Last night the French played well below their best, yet such is the level of experience contained within the team that they never really looked worried. They performed particularly poorly in the first half and I would imagine that Roger Lemerre made it clear to them at the break just how critical it was going to be for them to go back out there and take control of the second period.

But that's precisely what they did. Immediately the game restarted it was apparent that they had upped the tempo of and not long afterwards they got the equaliser. From that point on there was only one team that was going to win this game.

That's not to pay any disrespect to the Portuguese who battled bravely and even forced a fine save out of Fabien Barthez late on. For them, I think, it was simply a question of this having been a match too far and while it will be difficult for them to accept the defeat initially, when the dust settles they will have just cause to feel proud of their achievements over the past couple of weeks.

Aside from Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Fernando Couto were just two of their players who had memorable tournaments. Ultimately, though, it was the fact that Figo's influence on last night's encounter was so effectively curtailed by Lilian Thuram that highlighted the difference in quality between the squads as a whole.

Many of the French players turned in seriously below-par individual performances but then the fact is that when you have somebody like Nicolas Anelka who can go through an entire match without contributing a great deal but who can then help to set up the goal with a neat piece of ball skills, you are always going to be in with a shout.

Even more so a player like Zinedine Zidane. For the bulk of the first half the Juventus star was as quiet as those around him but after the break he showed once again what a leader he can be.

As he started to turn it on, so the Portuguese began to go under. Their grip on the contest and on their dream of a place in the final was gradually prised from out of their hands by the greater determination and know-how of the French.

The penalty, in extra time, was a good call by the match officials and a bad one by Abel Xavier who might have been better to let the shot he handled slip past him and then hoping for the best.

Still, even after the penalty was given, it was going to take somebody with a steady nerve to turn the opportunity into a place in the final. That somebody, of course, was Zidane who underlined once again his temperament with what was an outstanding spot kick.

They'll undoubtedly look to him in the final on Sunday, too, and whoever wins this evening will clearly need to spend some time working out just how it is he can be stopped.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)