Gloating French will pay

Dejected: Steven Gerrard looks devastated at the final whistle

14 April 2012

England's disappointed stars today vowed to make France pay for their gloating after last night's dramatic injury-time victory.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's side lost 2-1 in their Group B opener in Lisbon and England's scorer, Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, summed up the anger when he said: "A lot of us have never felt that way after a defeat and we could hear them singing French victory songs in the dressing room after the game. It was a bit harsh, a bit premature and I don't think we would have done the same thing had we won the game.

"All it has done is make the lads more determined to come back, get the right results to go through and try to meet them again."

England led through Lampard's header but two goals from Zidane turned the game on its head. His winner came from the penalty spot after goalkeeper David James brought down Thierry Henry following a needless back-pass by Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool star Gerrard said: "It was a silly thing to do but I will bounce back and make up for that error. We heard them singing and shouting afterwards but they haven't won the tournament yet.

"They got three points but for us it means Thursday's game against the Swiss will be even bigger. We're just hoping we can still go all the way and meet France again in the final." Striker Michael Owen, who had a poor game before being substituted, also heard the French sing-song after the match. "Yes, they must be very pleased," he said. "Let's hope we play them again in the final.

"It was the cruellest game I've played in. We were as down as we could be afterwards but we can't dwell on it. We have two games still to play."

Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira insisted the French were just pleased at rescuing a desperate situation. "We talked about how we had to do more at half-time, how we had to work harder," he said. "We knew we had to fight for it and that is what we did. The dressing room at the end was a very happy one."

Lampard's 38th-minute goal gave England the lead and they should have increased it in the second half when Wayne Rooney was brought down by Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre but Fabien Barthez saved his former Old Trafford team-mate David Beckham's penalty.

It was the second successive penalty miss by Beckham following the one against Turkey in Istanbul and the England captain said: "I couldn't have struck it any better but he read me."

Barthez said: "The game would have been over if we had gone 2-0 down. There is no luck involved in saving a penalty. It is based on hard work. It is 90 per cent against the goalkeeper when there is a spot-kick."

Zidane's first goal came from a free-kick after substitute Emile Heskey had brought down Chelsea midfielder Claude Makelele just outside the box.

Lampard, who was one of England's best players in a resilient performance, admitted there was a lot of disappointment in the England camp but promised: "Now we have to dig deep, find a lot of character and make sure we win the next game."

England coach Eriksson was also positive when he said: "It is important we keep our heads up and continue to play football like we did in that match. If we do that we should qualify for the quarter-finals.

"You can never be in complete control of France because they have so many options but we did an excellent job except for the last three minutes when we should have put the ball into the stand."

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Gloating French will pay

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