In their most eagerly anticipated match since the 2002 World Cup quarter-final against Brazil, England had victory ripped from their grasp in injury time last night when France first equalised and then scored the winner in their Euro 2004 meeting, both goals coming from the right boot of their certified genius, Zinedine Zidane.
And so the five-sixths of the stadium occupied by England's fans melted into the night while the far smaller French contingent stayed on to sing their songs of victory.
It was only a first-round match, and defeat would have eliminated neither side. But an enormous amount of prestige was at stake, given the number of French players contributing to the quality of the English Premiership.
Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and the rest of France's expatriates came into the match wanting to demonstrate the authenticity of their reputations, while their English clubmates hoped to prove that they are at least the equals of the former world and current European champions.
Something like 50,000 England fans are said to have descended on Portugal to follow their team's fortunes, and most of them were in Lisbon's shiny new stadium last night, hoping for a famous victory.
Yet they had to sit and watch while England's opponents dominated the early stages with what amounted to a demonstration of the game's finer skills. France's artists failed to take advantage, however, and were shocked when Frank Lampard headed home David Beckham's free kick after 38 minutes.
With 20 minutes of the match left, Beckham had a chance to double England's lead after Wayne Rooney was awarded a penalty, but Fabien Barthez, France's goalkeeper and Beckham's former team mate at Manchester United, leaped to his right to save the England captain's kick.
As the final whistle approached, England seemed to have repelled the best France had to offer and looked like registering a victory. Two dreadful defensive mistakes, however, sent them to only their second defeat in a competitive match since Sven-Goran Eriksson took over as their coach three-and-a-half years ago.
A foul by Emile Heskey a few seconds before injury time allowed Zidane to strike home an imperious free kick, while Steven Gerrard's misjudged back pass two minutes later gave David James, the England goalkeeper, to bring down Thierry Henry, giving Zidane the chance to take all three points for France.
