Zinedine Zidane's 33rd-minute penalty sent France into the World Cup final against Italy after they claimed a 1-0 semi-final win over Portugal in Munich.

Zidane found the bottom right corner of Ricardo's net from 12 yards after Thierry Henry had taken a tumble in the area following Ricardo Carvalho's careless tackle.

Les Bleus made a bright start and could have gone ahead after just one minute when Florent Malouda screwed horribly wide after Luis Miguel misjudged a long ball out of defence.

Two minutes later, Fabien Barthez had to be alert to push a Deco shot wide at full stretch, while a Maniche piledriver flew just inches over following Cristiano Ronaldo's lay-off.

Portugal continued to press with Ronaldo down the left and Luis Figo - both passed fit to start before the match - posing the French defence plenty of problems.

After feeling hard done-by over the penalty decision, Portugal boss Luis Felipe Scolari felt even more cause for complaints when Ronaldo's appeals for a penalty at the other end were waved away by referee Jorge Larrionda.

Portugal continued to exert pressure but France held out to take their lead into the interval.

France made a lively start to the second half with Henry's run and shot saved by Ricardo's arm and squirming just wide for a corner, while Franck Ribery's shot forced another save from the Portuguese custodian.

Pauleta's clever turn and shot in the box at the other end then struck the side-netting.

Ronaldo then saw penalty claims waved away after he fell in the area, while two minutes later his fierce 30-yard free-kick was fumbled by Barthez but Luis Figo headed the rebound onto the roof of the net.

That was as near as Portugal came as Zidane and company celebrated their passage through to Sunday's showpiece in Berlin while for Portugal, they will battle with hosts Germany for the consolation prize of third place in Stuttgart.