Spain bring France to heel in Paris

France 0-2 Spain
First-half strikes of David Villa and Sergio Ramos earned Vicente del Bosque's Spain another big scalp at the Stade de France, as the European champions geared up ominously for the FIFA World Cup finals.

France, who will also be travelling to South Africa in the summer, were given a warning as Sergio Busquets headed Xabi Alonso's free-kick wide. They were soon a goal behind, though, as David Villa sprung the offside trap in the 21st minute and chased down Andrés Iniesta's low pass before calmly beating Hugo Lloris in the France goal.

The home side had barely mustered a chance before they were 2-0 down, with a Sergio Ramos shot in first-half added time deceiving Lloris thanks to a cruel deflection off Sevilla FC's Julien Escudé, paired with FC Girondins de Bordeaux's Michaël Ciani in a new-look central defence.

Thierry Henry started the game to win his 118th cap, but he was to see little of the ball before or after the break, with Iker Casillas in the Spain goal having experienced a reasonably quiet night before Florent Malouda headed Djibril Cissé's cross against his post 12 minutes from time. Fernando Torres had a couple of chances for Spain, but there was to be no further scoring.