France 0 Russia 0

Russia blocked out the world champions in Paris but had few chances to win this friendly.

A competitve game tested the French for attacking ideas and they found it much harder to break down Russia than the Scotland team last month.

Russia defeated France in 1999 but needed goalkeeper Ruslan Nigmatullin to be in excellent form to hold the stalemate.

He was concetrating to the end and saved in the last minute from Thierry Henry.

Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane and substitute Alain Boghossian all went close in the second half as the home team poured on pressure after pinning Russia back in defence from early in the game.

Nicolas Anelka tapped in a rebound from an Emmanuel Petit snap shot on 34 minutes but was ruled offside in his only real contribution to the match.

Russia's best chance came in the 29th minute when Alexandre Mostovoi put Vladimir Beschastnykh clear but the finish did not do justice to the move and the ball flashed wide of the target.