Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane scored late in the second-half as France stormed back from a one-goal deficit to beat Spain 3-1 on Tuesday and advance to the last eight of the World Cup. David Villa gave Spain a 28th-minute lead from the spot before Frank Ribery's goal four minutes from the interval put France level. In-form Vieira headed home in the 83rd minute to snatch a stunning lead and captain Zidane put the icing on the cake deep into injury time. With this result, France qualified to play title holders Brazil in the quarter-finals and snapped Spain's two-year unbeaten run, with their last defeat dated back in EURO 2004 when they lost 1-0 in to Portugal. The France-Brazil clash on Saturday is a repeat of the 1998 World Cup final that saw the French beat the Brazilians 3-0 and clinch their first World Cup ever. Spain kicked-off the match in an attacking approach, with Cesc Fabregas and Xavi marshalling the midfield and trying to provide Fernando Torres and Villa with long balls behind France's back four. Spain, though, failed to breach the French resilient defense until defender Lillian Thuram nudged Pablo Ibanez in the area and referee Roberto Rosetti had no other option except awarding a spot-kick. Villa stepped up to pin a powerful shot into the right bottom corner of the French net just two minutes before the half-hour mark.
France picked up their pace after the goal and pressed the Spanish defense, which depended mainly on a naïve offside trap that was beaten through a brilliant Vieira-Ribery blitz in the 41st minute. Ribery, who was struggling to find his flow since the starting whistle, outpaced two Spanish challengers in the midfield, passed to Vieira and ghosted behind the back four only to receive the Juventus' midfielder neat pass that put him face-to-face with Iker Casillas. Instead of slotting home with the goal at his mercy, Ribery sidestepped Casillas and poked into the empty net leaving two Spanish defenders sprawling on the grass in an attempt to block the goal. In the 53rd minute, Spain manager Luis Aragones made two substitutions when he threw Luis Garcia and Joaquin into the fray for out-of-form captain Raul Gonzalez and Villa. However, France dominated the pitch and came close to the second goal when Florent Malouda lobbed a perfect shot towards the net but Casillas made a full-stretch to palm the ball into a corner-kick. With the game heading towards an extra time, Vieira, who scored and dished out an assist during France's 2-0 victory over Togo in the last group game, had other plans. Vieira surged into the box to connect with a Zidane free-kick and steered a powerful header that bumped into Sergio Ramos before settling inside the Spanish net. Spain attacked in numbers in the remaining period in a bid for a late equalizer but they left huge spaces behind and that was just what Zidane needed to complete the rout. The 34-year-old playmaker raced down the left to control a deft through pass from Ribery before cutting inside the area, rounding Carles Puyol and firing low past Casillas in the dying seconds.
