Laurent Blanc decided to ring in a few changes as France took the field without two senior players Florent Malouda and Patrice Evra. In a 4-2-3-1 system, Samir Nasri started behind striker Karim Benezema with Paris St. Germain's Jeremy Menez operating on the right.
Ukraine came out unchanged with skipper Andrei Shevchenko leading the line. Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevhen Konoplyanka started on the right and left respectively.After a delay due to thunderstorm, France came out strongly and Franck Ribery, operating down the right channel, worked tirelessly causing trouble to the Ukrainian defence. Left-back Clichy ventured up continuously and linked up well with Benzema.
The Real Madrid forward took a lot of workload, building up play from behind (he delivered the final pass for both the goals).
In the first session, however, to the credit of the home defence, they kept it tight and tried maintaining a high line, giving little room for the French forwards. At the other end Ukraine's attacks were sporadic, but Shevchenko tried desperately and came close to causing damage a couple of times.
A five-minute spell early after the break saw France strike twice. As Ukraine tried being more enterprising, France caught it on the counter.
The Ukrainian defence was caught completely unawares. Thereafter the home team looked bereft of idea and France dictated play with relative ease.
