A second-half penalty by Samir Nasri rescued a 1-1 draw for France at home to Bosnia last night that sent Laurent Blanc’s side to Euro 2012 after a tense night at Stade de France.

Denmark, Greece and Russia also booked their places in the finals with wins over Portugal, Georgia and Andorra respectively and Sweden qualified as best runners-up with a shock 3-2 win over already qualified Holland.

France required just a point to top qualifying Group D, but they appeared paralysed by nerves in the first half and fell behind shortly before half-time to a fine goal from Edin Dzeko.

Already assured of a play-off place, Bosnia had played with intent but their resistance finally buckled in the 78th minute when Dzeko’s City team-mate Nasri scored from the spot after he had been felled by Emir Spahic.

The draw allowed France to avoid the trap they fell into in 1993, when a 3-2 defeat by Bulgaria denied them a place at the 1994 World Cup, and means Blanc can continue his rebuilding work in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

Denmark, European champions in 1992, stunned the Portuguese with a 2-1 win in Copenhagen to leapfrog the visitors and top Group H consigning the Euro 2004 finalists to the play-offs.

Greece edged Georgia 2-1 away while Russia as expected had no problem in disposing of Andorra 6-0 to top their respective groups.

An increasingly impressive Germany romped to a 3-1 win over a promising Belgian side, who were bidding to become the first Belgium side to win on German soil since 1983.

Goals by Mesut Ozil, Andre Schuerrle and Mario Gomez for Germany put paid to the Belgians’ hopes of the win that would send them into the runners-up play-offs.

Turkey’s 1-0 win at home to Azerbaijan confirmed they would finish second.

Greece secured their place in the finals after two late goals saw them come from 1-0 down to beat Georgia – Angelos Charisteas, their Euro 2004 goalscoring hero, getting their winner.

Croatia have to be content with a play-off place despite beating Latvia 2-0, their upset to Greece last Friday proving decisive.

Russia were never likely to succumb to an Andorran side that had not mustered a point and scored just one goal in the qualifiers and they duly cruised through.

A brace by rising 21-year-old CSKA Moscow star Alan Dzagoev was the feature of the rout.

Over in Dublin a Valeri Aleksanyan own goal and a Richard Dunne strike had looked to have put Ireland out of sight of Armenia but they had to endure a nervy last half hour after Henrik Mkhitaryan reduced the deficit.

Kevin Doyle’s red card did not help Irish nerves but they held on to secure a second successive play-off place for a major finals.

They will hope this time round it is less controversial and a happier ending than the 2010 World Cup one against France.

Meanwhile, a night that pro-mised much drama ended in dis-appointment for Scotland as a 3-1 defeat in Spain left them third in Group I and denied them a chance of a place in the play-offs.

Two first-half goals from Manchester City’s David Silva and a David Villa strike were enough for Spain who top the group with a 100 per cent record from eight matches.

Scotland’s consolation came from a David Goodwillie penalty after Victor Valdes had tripped Steven Naismith.

With Scotland’s nearest rivals the Czech Republic winning 4-1 in Lithuania in a game played at the same time, Scotland needed an unlikely victory to keep their qualification hopes alive.

Antonio Cassano scored a brace to ruin Nigel Worthington’s last match in charge of Northern Ireland as Italy ran out 3-0 winners at Pescara’s Stadio Adriatico.

Gareth McAuley scored an unfortunate own goal late on.

The result ensured Italy, who had already qualified for the finals next year as Group C winners, finished their campaign unbeaten.

Results and final standings

Group A

Germany 3
Ozil 30; Schuerrle 33; Gomez 48;
Belgium 1
Fellaini 86;

Kazakhstan 0
Austria 0

Turkey 1
Yilmaz 60;
Azerbaijan 0


P W D L F A Pts
Germany 10 10 0 0 34 7 30
Turkey 10 5 2 3 13 11 17
Belgium 10 4 3 3 21 15 15
Austria 10 3 3 4 16 17 12
Azerbaijan 10 2 1 7 10 26 7
Kazakhstan 10 1 1 8 6 24 4

Group B

Macedonia 1
Noveski 79;
Slovakia 1
Piroska 54;

Russia 6
Dzagoev 5, 44; Arshavin 26; Pavlyuchenko 30; Glushakov 59; Berezutski 78;
Andorra 0

Ireland 2
Aleksanyan 43 og; Dunne 60;
Armenia 1
Mkhitaryan 62;

Red cards: Berezovsky (A) 27, Doyle (I) 81.


P W D L F A Pts
Russia 10 7 2 1 17 4 23
Ireland 10 6 3 1 15 7 21
Armenia 10 5 2 3 22 10 17
Slovakia 10 4 3 3 7 10 15
Macedonia 10 2 2 6 8 14 8
Andorra 10 0 0 10 1 25 0

Group C

Italy 3
Cassano 21; Cassano 53; McAuley 74 og;
N. Ireland 0

Slovenia 1
Vrsic 45;
Serbia 0


P W D L F A Pts
Italy 10 8 2 0 20 2 26
Estonia 10 5 1 4 15 14 16
Serbia 10 4 3 3 13 12 15
Slovenia 10 4 2 4 11 7 14
N. Ireland 10 2 3 5 9 13 9
Faroe Isl. 10 1 1 8 6 26 4

Group D

Albania 1
Salihi 24;
Romania 1
Luchin 77;

France 1
Nasri 78 pen;
Bosnia 1
Dzeko 40;


P W D L F A Pts
France 10 6 3 1 15 4 21
Bosnia 10 6 2 2 17 8 20
Romania 10 3 5 2 13 9 14
Belarus 10 3 4 3 8 7 13
Albania 10 2 3 5 7 14 9
Luxembourg 10 1 1 8 3 21 4

Group E

Moldova 4
Zmeu 30; Bacciocchi 62 og; Suvorov 66; Andronic 87;
San Marino 0

Sweden 3
Kallstrom 14; Larsson 52 pen; Toivonen 53;
Netherlands 2
Huntelaar 23; Kuyt 50;

Hungary 0
Finland 0


P W D L F A Pts
Netherlands 10 9 0 1 37 8 27
Sweden 10 8 0 2 31 11 24
Hungary 10 6 1 3 22 14 19
Finland 10 3 1 6 16 16 10
Moldova 10 3 0 7 12 16 9
San Marino 10 0 0 10 0 53 0

Group F

Croatia 2
Eduardo 66; Mandzukic 72;
Latvia 0

Georgia 1
Targamadze 19;
Greece 2
Fotakis 79; Charisteas 85;

Malta 0
Israel 2
Refaelov 10; Gershon 90;


P W D L F A Pts
Greece 10 7 3 0 14 5 24
Croatia 10 7 1 2 18 7 22
Israel 10 5 1 4 13 11 16
Latvia 10 3 2 5 9 12 11
Georgia 10 2 4 4 7 9 10
Malta 10 0 1 9 4 21 1

Group G

Bulgaria 0
Wales 1
Bale 45;

Switzerland 2
Derdiyok 51; Lichtsteiner 65;
Montenegro 0


P W D L F A Pts
England 8 5 3 0 17 5 18
Montenegro 8 3 3 2 7 7 12
Switzerland 8 3 2 3 12 10 11
Wales 8 3 0 5 6 10 9
Bulgaria 8 1 2 5 3 13 5

Group H

Denmark 2
Krohn-Dehli 13; Bendtner 63;
Portugal 1
Ronaldo 90;

Norway 3
Pedersen 25; Carew 34; Hogli 65;
Cyprus 1
Okkas 42;


P W D L F A Pts
Denmark 8 6 1 1 15 6 19
Portugal 8 5 1 2 21 12 16
Norway 8 5 1 2 10 7 16
Iceland 8 1 1 6 6 14 4
Cyprus 8 0 2 6 7 20 2

Group I

Lithuania 1
Sernas 68 pen;
Czech Rep. 4
Kadlec 2 pen; Rezec 16, 45; Kadlec 85;

Red card: Hubnik (CR) 67.

Spain 3
Silva 6, 44; Villa 54;
Scotland 1
Goodwillie 66 pen;


P W D L F A Pts
Spain 8 8 0 0 26 6 24
Czech Rep. 8 4 1 3 12 8 13
Scotland 8 3 2 3 9 10 11
Lithuania 8 1 2 5 4 13 5
L’chtenstein 8 1 1 6 3 17 4

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