France have beaten England in a dramatic end to a game that saw the French score twice in as many minutes despite Sven Goran Eriksson's side holding a 1-0 lead until 90 minutes.
Frank Lampard headed England into the lead on 38 minutes after connecting with a cross from David Beckham to give England the lead at half-time.
In the second half, Wayne Rooney was brought down and England won a penalty.
David Beckham stepped up to take it but his shot was saved.
France bombarded the England goal area and on 90 minutes, Zinedine Zidane drove the ball home.
Within minutes Thierry Henry was fouled and France won a penalty which was rammed into the back of the net by Zidane on 93 minutes.
It was to end England's hopes of starting the tournament in dream fashion against a French team that is widely tipped to win Euro 2004.
After the match, England coach Sven Goran Eriksson said: "We were very unlucky. We played excellently but when it came to the last ten minutes we ran out of ideas.
"We have to overcome this very quickly and prepare for the next game.
Thousands of people packed pubs and bars to cheer on the England team and when the clock showed that 90 minutes had been played, they believed their team had made the best possible start to Euro 2004.
In Portugal some 30,000 England supporters packed the stadium. There had been little trouble before the match with just four English fans detained by police after minor scuffles overnight but were later released without charge
Thousands of England supporters have travelled to Portugal in the past few days for tonight's game.Police have set up a huge security operation which has seen more than 2700 potential troublemakers banned from leaving the UK.
A further 32 people were stopped at British ports and airports today. Sixteen were issued with banning orders
Frank Lampard headed England into the lead on 38 minutes after connecting with a cross from David Beckham to give England the lead at half-time.
In the second half, Wayne Rooney was brought down and England won a penalty.
David Beckham stepped up to take it but his shot was saved.
France bombarded the England goal area and on 90 minutes, Zinedine Zidane drove the ball home.
Within minutes Thierry Henry was fouled and France won a penalty which was rammed into the back of the net by Zidane on 93 minutes.
It was to end England's hopes of starting the tournament in dream fashion against a French team that is widely tipped to win Euro 2004.
After the match, England coach Sven Goran Eriksson said: "We were very unlucky. We played excellently but when it came to the last ten minutes we ran out of ideas.
"We have to overcome this very quickly and prepare for the next game.
Thousands of people packed pubs and bars to cheer on the England team and when the clock showed that 90 minutes had been played, they believed their team had made the best possible start to Euro 2004.
In Portugal some 30,000 England supporters packed the stadium. There had been little trouble before the match with just four English fans detained by police after minor scuffles overnight but were later released without charge
Thousands of England supporters have travelled to Portugal in the past few days for tonight's game.Police have set up a huge security operation which has seen more than 2700 potential troublemakers banned from leaving the UK.
A further 32 people were stopped at British ports and airports today. Sixteen were issued with banning orders
