THE STADIUM CHIEFS AT LEIPZIG have decided not to replace a door broken by Zinedine Zidane in a fit of pique, preserving it as a memento of a legend, and he made another lasting impression last night in Hanover, waltzing through the Spain rearguard in stoppage time to underscore the French renaissance and postpone his retirement.

Spain, meanwhile, were left with another false dawn, although they bemoaned the over-reaction by Thierry Henry in the prelude to the second, decisive goal six minutes from time. Carles Puyol did make contact with him, but the response was one of those biologically challenged efforts in which Henry held his face when hit in the shoulder. From the free kick Patrick Vieira, mercilessly criticised in the French media before the World Cup, delivered a cathartic triumph.

“We owe it to a refereeing mistake,” Luis Aragones, the Spain coach, said before saying that they should not blame the referee. Henry, though, was defiant. “If it was basketball it would have been a good block, but this isn’t basketball,” he said. “I’m not a cheat and people in England know that.”

Aragones was correct in saying that France were “not much better than us”, but they could not even claim the sole rights to youthful promise given that Frank Ribéry began to explain just why the French media is in thrall to his quixotic talents. Nicknamed “Scarface”, any gangster analogies before last night appeared to rest on his penchant for blind alleys and shooting indiscriminately, but he got them back in the game last night before Vieira’s killer blow.

A close contest was seemingly drifting towards extra time when Zidane floated in the disputed free kick. It flicked off Xabi Alonso’s head and Vieira nodded the ball home off Sergio Ramos’s leg at the far post. “We don’t fix ourselves a limit,” Vieira said. “We know we can achieve a lot and have proved a lot of people wrong. Against Brazil we will be there.” Certainly, the favourites will be wary of a side with both pedigree and burgeoning belief.

That France are in the quarter-finals belies their early form. Spain had hit the ground running with their destruction of Ukraine in the group stage, whereas France merely hit the ground like a sack of pommes de terre. Slowly, they have gathered pace, Henry belatedly finding a semblance of international form, Zidane rolling back the years and Ribéry coming in from the wings. They also had their Indian sign over Spain to use. From the 1984 European championship final, when Michel Platini’s shot wormed its way under Luis Arconada’s body and into the Spanish psyche, to the 2000 quarter-finals, when Raúl missed a last-minute penalty, France have managed to prick at their fragility like few other sides. When Raúl departed early after being the quiet side of anonymous, it was another bleak night for the icon. For the old men of France it was merely glorious. “They are old, so the the physical training was down to zero,” Raymond Domenech, the France coach, said of his preparation. “It was all about recovery.”

The thirtysomethings did him proud and none more so than Vieira, whose return to Highbury with Juventus this year ended up with the obituarists lauding Arsène Wenger’s sagacity in offloading him.

Yet Spain started well enough. The verve of Fernando Torres was a problem from the early exchanges, and first blood went to the young bloods. With 25 minutes gone, Pablo had his back to goal as the ball broke to him. Lilian Thuram tried to nick the ball away but stepped on the defender’s ankle. In a competition where whimsical refereeing is becoming the default setting, Roberto Rosetti got it right and gave the kick. David Villa converted.

Before the break, however, France’s own prodigy proved that the production line has not been shut down in France. Vieira stabbed a ball through a half-hearted offside trap and Ribéry darted into green space before showing class and composure to round Iker Casillas and slide his shot over the line just before the cavalry charge of Puyol and Mariano Pernia arrived.

The game opened up, Torres tumbling in the box under close attention from Willy Sagnol. He received an earful but not a second penalty. Yet a muscular France almost stealthily began to impose themselves, and sensing that his side were underperforming, Aragones made quick changes, adding Joaquín and Luis García in response to seeing Zidane play a deft ball over the Spain rearguard and Florent Malouda force Fabien Barthez to palm away his volley.

But the man making the most impression was Ribéry. Buoyed by his goal, he performed a soft-shoe shuffle past Pernia close to the touchline and drilled a ball across the face of goal. It showed what confidence can do and Ribéry became an increasing menace.

At the other end, García’s threatening cross invited a goal, but Sagnol made a magnificent clearance amid a phalanx of Spain players. Then came the clincher and Zidane’s magical cameo. “He knew that everyone was expecting something from him,” Domenech said.

If Zidane can keep the nostalgia flowing for three more games, he will bow out without a dry eye in the house in Berlin on July 9.

SPAIN (1) 1 FRANCE (1) 3
Villa 28 (pen) Ribéry 41, Vieira 83, Zidane 90

REFEREE: Roberto Rosetti (Italy) 4

ATTENDANCE: 43,000

FRANCE: Henry 6, Ribéry 8, Zidane 7, Malouda 5, Vieira 8, Makelele 6, Sagnol 7, Thuram 7, Gallas 6, Abidal 6, Barthez 6 Subs: Govou (for Malouda, 74), Wiltord (for Henry, 88). Not used: Landreau, Boumsong, Dhorasoo, Silvestre, Saha, Givet, Diarra, Trezeguet, Chimbonda, Coupet Villa 28 (pen)

SPAIN: Casillas 5, Ramos 7, Pablo 5, Puyol 6, Pernia 6, Fàbregas 6, Alonso 5, Xavi 6, Torres 7, Villa 6, Raúl 4 Subs: Senna (for Xavi, 72min), Joaquín 7 (for Villa, 54), García 7 (for Raúl 54).

Quarter Finals

GERMANY v ARGENTINA Berlin, Friday 4pm

ITALY v UKRAINE Hamburg, Friday 8pm

ENGLAND v PORTUGAL Gelsenkirchen, Saturday 4pm

BRAZIL v FRANCE Frankfurt, Saturday 8pm