Zinedine Zidane struck a devastating 117th minute ‘Golden Goal’ penalty to send France into the European Championship final and the tournament into controversy.

With the game locked at 1-1 and four minutes away from sudden death penalties, Portugal defender Abel Xavier was harshly judged to have handled a fierce low drive from Sylvain Wiltord.

Gunter Benko originally failed to spot the offence but, after consulting with his linesman, the Austrian referee pointed to the spot. Disappointingly, undesirable scenes followed as the significance of the decision painfully registered with the Portuguese.

UEFA will look closely at the events as Benko failed to keep control of the players and saw a number of Humberto Coelho's men posture aggressively with officials and opponents.

To his credit, Zidane remained ice-cool in the midst of the hostile reaction and firmly despatched the ball high into the top left-hand corner of Vitor Baia’s goal to end the game.

The wild celebrations that followed his goal mirrored the devastation in the Portuguese ranks, as their ‘golden generation’ of talent failed to achieved their own destiny of a major tournament success. Amongst the despair a red card was shown to earlier goal hero Nuno Gomes, as the proceedings came to an unsavoury conclusion.

Both sides started the game showing immense respect for each other and the early minutes were confined to the middle third as the white shirts of France and the crimson red of Portugal refused to thrust forward.

Surprisingly, the safest place to be was in the respective goalmouths as neither attack come close to testing Vitor Baia or Fabien Barthez. That was until, after 18 minutes, when the man who started the tournament as Portugal’s third choice striker latched on to a Sergio Conceicao interception 25 yards out.

Nuno Gomes swivelled to his right and despatched a powerful left-foot strike on the turn that flew powerfully through the air and just inside French goalkeeper Barthez's right-hand post.

The goal seemed to shake the world champions and their play started to lack its usual fluency and cohesion. ‘Les Bleus’ only response to the goal was a Nicolas Anelka half-chance following his own good work around the Portuguese box.

Before half-time the French were lacking the confidence and verve that is usually implicit in their play. The side that has not lost a tournament game for four years was losing its composure as Zidane spent more energy bemoaning the decisions of the referee than unlocking the underdog's defence.

The second-half started at a hectic pace with Portugal sitting back and attempting to soak up the frenzied attacks of the French.

It proved a dangerous tactic as, after 51 minutes, Patrick Vieira slipped a ball down into the right-hand side of the penalty area. Former Highbury pal Anelka controlled the ball and cut it back to the penalty spot, where Emmanuel Petit was lurking.

But Thierry Henry, with two Euro 2000 goals to his credit already, snatched the ball seemingly destined for Petit, who flailed his arms in the air to show his disappointment. However, the pony-tailed one was to wave them in celebration soon after as his Highbury colleague struck a shot through the legs of Couto and in to the back of the net.

Portugal’s response was instant and a quick throw from Baia set Figo away down the Portuguese left. The Barcelona star opened his legs, skipped past the covering Deschamps before swinging in a left-footed cross that was impressively intercepted by Bixente Lizarazu before the predatory Gomes could pounce.

Portugal, who are unfamiliar to this stage of a major tournament, only appearing twice in a semi-final prior to this game, were now losing their way. With quarter of an hour to go, they seemed devoid of a game plan and were also seeing the talents of Figo and Costa repressed by some ominous French possession.

In the 76th minute, Petit exploited the French territorial advantage and volleyed menacingly from 20 yards. However, Baia was equal to the task and flung himself low to his right to make an impressive save.

Coelho threw Joao Pinto into the fray, surprisingly in place of Rui Costa. Likewise, Robert Pires took the place of Petit.

With 89 minutes on the clock, and both teams planning for extra-time, Luis Figo launched in a wicked free-kick into a pack of players grouped on the six-yard line. Xavier jumped high to powerfully deflect it towards goal and only a spectacular reaction save from Barthez stopped Portugal appearing in Sunday’s final.

Extra-time started tentatively with both sides, as usual, aware of what they could lose rather than what they could win.

In the second period it was refreshing to see both nations playing with more freedom, but it was making for painful viewing as the killer goal seemed imminent at all times.

In the 108th minute, Pinto energetically made progress through the heart of the French defence. Leaving Marcel Desailly in his wake, he shifted the ball to his right and skillfully shot from 25 yards. The ball evaded the grasp of Barthez but also evaded the goal and the pain went on.