Italy 0-0 France: Edgy draw

Group B

	Italy 0 - 0 France
0		0

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.

The first half featured some tough challenges with Claude Makelele and Gennaro Gattuso booked.

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.

Source: Soccernet.com