France are out of the tournament after Italy beat them 2-0 in Zurich with goals from Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi.

Full-time: The turning point of the game was a moment of madness from Eric Abidal for France. Italy fully deserved their win over the French although they will be worried about the form of Luca Toni. Bring on Spain!

62 min: Daniele de Rossi deflected free-kick puts Italy 2-0 up against France. This could turn out to be a rout. If the Italians go through, they will be without Pirlo and Gattuso. Both collected yellow cards in this game and will be suspended for the quarter-finals.

Half-time: France 0-1 Italy

25 min: Andrea Pirlo has put Italy one goal up against France from the penalty spot after Eric Abidal did a professional foul on Luca Toni.

The Barca defender was sent off. Samir Nasri who came on for Franck Ribery in the tenth minute was substituted by Jean-Alain Boumsong.

It is all going the World Cup winners way at the moment.

How they rated

France:

Gregory Coupet 7

Francois Clerc 5

William Gallas 5

Eric Abidal 3 (25min Sent off)

Patrice Evra 4

Claude Makelele 4

Jeremy Toulalan 5

Sidney Govou 5 (66min Nicolas Anelka 5)

Franck Ribery (10min Samir Nasri, 26min Jean-Alain Boumsong 5)

Thierry Henry 5

Karim Benzema 6


Italy:

Gianluigi Buffon 7

Gianluca Zambrotta 6

Christian Panucci 7

Giorgio Chiellini 6

Fabio Grosso 6

Andrea Pirlo 7 (55min Massimo Ambrosini 6)

Daniele de Rossi 7

Gennaro Gattuso 7 (82 Alberto Aquilani)

Simone Perrotta 6 (64min Mauro Camoranesi 6)

Antonio Cassano 5

Luca Toni 6

espnstar.com's Man-of-the-Match: Andrea Pirlo

The Italians needed an ice-cool penalty-taker after their recent penalty misadventures. Up stepped the stylish Andrea Pirlo who took it with aplomb and it was a crucial goal that broke the French resistance. However, Pirlo will be missed in the quarter-final after collecting his second yellow card of the tournament.

By Eugene YS Han (espnstar.com)