France captain Zinedine Zidane, whose two goals sank England in their last-gasp 2-1 Euro 2004 victory on Sunday, paid tribute to goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who saved a David Beckham penalty in the second half.
"Fabien made the difference and allowed us to stay 1-0 down and gave us the possibility to keep believing in our chances.
"The game was not going our way and in the end it's a very positive result. We suffered but we overturned the situation. It's in those conditions that you build a team spirit."
France coach Jacques Santini saw his team recover to steal victory with two Zidane goals in added time, the first from a free-kick and the second from the penalty spot.
Santini said: "More than everything we did tonight, more than the way we fought back, what I want to point out is that the squad is healthy and ambitious. They live well together, and if some had doubts, they gave the best reply on the pitch.
"The thousands of fans who were in a minority tonight kept supporting us. In high level football everything can change quickly, the ball rolled our way tonight."
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