LISBON, June 13: Zinedine Zidane scored twice in the final minutes to give reigning champions France a remarkable 2-1 victory over England in their Euro 2004 Group A match here on Sunday.

England had taken a 1-0 lead through a first-half header from Frank Lampard and England captain David Beckham had a penalty saved by former Manchester United team-mate Fabien Barthez before Zidane curled a free-kick in during second-half stoppage time.

Then a terrible back pass from Steven Gerrard saw Thierry Henry fouled by the England goalkeeper David James, allowing Zidane to secure victory with a penalty.

Zidane said: "We had not had a good match and then came a little bit of a surprise goal at the end. That meant that a match that had not at all been in our favour suddenly produced a positive result. "It is matches like this that forge the spirit of a team, especially ones that end like that." -AFP