Italy, France in thrilling goalless draw

Italy drew 0-0 with France in a passionate and tough-tackling Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday, which dropped the world champions to third in Group B.

The repetition of last year's World Cup final was full of drama despite the lack of goals, with Filippo Inzaghi clipping the bar on half an hour. Both sides had other good chances in an intense and noisy atmosphere at a sell-out San Siro where France coach Raymond Domenech was forced to watch the game from the stands because of a UEFA touchline ban.

France top the group with Scotland second after their 3-1 win over Lithuania and Italy a point behind in third.

In Amsterdam, Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy scored either side of the break to earn the Netherlands a 2-0 home win over Bulgaria in their qualifier, while two goals from Miroslav Klose gave Germany a 2-0 victory over Wales at Cardiff.

In Moscow, Russia beat Macedonia 3-0 to stay on track for next year's finals.

Goals by Tomas Rosicky, Marek Jankulovski and Jan Koller steered the Czech Republic to an easy 3-0 victory over 10-man San Marino in a Group D qualifier while Sweden drew 0-0 with Denmark to remain top of Euro 2008 Group F qualifying..

Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta scored four minutes from time to scramble a 1-1 draw with Iceland in their qualifier.

The visitors had midfielder Xabi Alonso sent off after 19 minutes and fell behind to a header by Emil Hallfredsson 20 minutes later.

Scotland surged to a 3-1 victory over Lithuania at Hampden to stay in the hunt for a place at Euro 2008 from Group B.

Norway beat Moldova in a Euro 2008 Group C qualifier, courtesy a 47th-minute Steffen Iversen header.

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro had the first good chance when he shovelled the ball wide from Andrea Pirlo's corner before surprise France starter Nicolas Anelka scuffed an effort past the post from the edge of the box.

A lacklustre Alessandro Del Piero then slipped when shooting in a good position on the half hour and almost immediately Inzaghi, who started in place of injured striker Luca Toni, clipped the bar from close in.

France coach Domenech was also prevented from giving a halftime team talk because of the UEFA one-game ban, which he received for accusing Italy of bribing the referee of an Under-21 qualifier for the 2000 Olympics.

The start of the second half was just as frenetic with France keeper Mickael Landreau nervously tipping over Mauro Camoranesi's rasping drive and Buffon denying Anelka at his feet.

Thierry Henry was then booked for clipping Cannavaro's heels and the intensity of the first hour meant the remaining 30 minutes became scrappy with both sides visibly tired.

A crowd of 80,000, a record for the San Siro, made a cacophony of noise and Italy fans booed the French anthem and taunted the visitors before kick off with big screen footage of last year's World Cup win on penalties.

A recording of Luciano Pavarotti singing "Nessun Dorma" was played before kick off to huge applause. The Italian tenor died on Thursday aged 71 and his funeral took place on Saturday.