Ribery grabs the glory

Florent Malouda then made space as he turned inside Wes Brown and found Anelka in the area, only for the rushed effort to be gathered comfortably by David James.

After a quarter of an hour, Beckham almost had the chance to score the opening goal. Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard combined well on the left flank and Cole's driven cross was spilled by Gregory Coupet, only to bounce clear of the onrushing Beckham at the crucial moment.

In the opening stages England were bright and confident in possession, Raymond Domenech's team was often outnumbered in midfield as a result of pairing Anelka and Trezeguet up front, and Barry, Gerrard and Hargreaves enjoyed a lot of the ball in the centre of the field.

Gerrard almost crowned a superb passing move from the visitors as he rose about Francois Clerc to head narrowly over Coupet's goal. Rooney, Barry and Cole traded confident touches before Gerrard fed Brown on the right wing and the Manchester United defender's looping cross found Gerrard at the back post.

Another Gerrard moments later seemed to underline their early dominance, as the Liverpool captain got on the end of Rio Ferdinand's header but once more missed the target.

Gerrard had taken the corner quickly with Joe Cole and found England's captain, Rio Ferdinand, free at far post. Ferdinand headed across goal and Gerrard was rushing in to meet it, but couldn't keep it down.

Going against the run of play, France took the lead from the spot as Ribery kept his cool to score past James. James had collided with Anelka as the Chelsea forward raced through on goal, and the referee had little choice but to point to the spot.

Beckham's 100th cap was then marked with a yellow card as he tugged at Franck Ribery's shirt. At the interval Capello introduced Joleon Lescott, Stewart Downing, Peter Crouch and Michael Owen into the fray.

It almost brought instant dividends as a Beckham corner found substitute Crouch eight yards out, only for the attentions of Thuram to prevent the Liverpool striker from hitting the target. Five minutes later Malouda came close to doubling the French advantage as he found space on the edge of the area, but his left-footed drive went narrowly wide of the post.

Shortly after the hour mark David Bentley replace centurion David Beckham, who departed to a standing ovation from the entire Stade de France.

Michael Owen almost stole in for a chance on Coupet's goal moments later, but the flag made his efforts for the ball futile as England had trouble finding many real openings.

But in reality, France, too, never worked James at the other end, save for Ribery's penalty. Even when the Bayern Munich man had a glorious opportunity on the edge of the area he choked his shot well wide.

French substitute Djibril Cisse almost had one final word to extend the lead, breaking away after the home side cleared an England corner. But as the former Liverpool striker tore towards James' area, Cole did enough to force the shot, which hit the side netting. 

The Three Lions ended the game the stronger of the two sides and tried to make the most of the presence of Crouch and Owen in the area, but it wasn't to be and when the final whistle was then sounded, Capello left to contemplate his first reverse as England Manager.

France: 23 Gregory Coupet, 3 Eric Abidal, 5 William Gallas, 5 Claude Makelele, 7 Florent Malouda, 8 Jeremy Toulalan, Francois Clerc, Lilian Thuram (c), 20 David Trezeguet (10 Sidney Govou 64), 22 Franck Ribery, 39 Nicolas Anelka (9 Djibril Cisse 80)
Subs not used: 1 Mickael Landreau, 4 Philippe Mexes, 17 Sebastien Squillaci, 18 Alou Diarra, 21 Mathieu Flamini, 27 Patrice Evra