Factbox: Spain v France

Reuters, Saturday 23 Jun 2012

Facts and figures ahead of the third Euro 2012 quarter-final match between Spain and France at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk on Saturday (1845 GMT)

* Though Spain have a positive record over France overall in head-to heads (13 wins to 11 defeats in 30 matches), they have never beaten the French in a competitive game, losing five out of six and drawing the other.

* Spain and France first met in a competitive match in the Euro 84 final in Paris when France won their first major title with a 2-0 victory. They have met twice at Euro finals since - in 1996 when they drew 1-1 in Leeds and in 2000 when France won 2-1 in Bruges.  

* France also won their only encounter at World Cup finals in 2006 by 3-1 in Hannover. * Since losing their opening match at the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa to Switzerland, world and European champions Spain are unbeaten in 17 competitive games, winning 16 of them.  They have conceded a mere eight goals in that run.

* Spain, so often lauded for their attacking football, have an incredible defensive record. In their last 13 matches at World Cup and Euro finals they have conceded just three goals, keeping 10 clean sheets. The last team to score more than one goal against them in tournament finals was France in the 3-1 defeat at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

* France's surprise 2-0 defeat by Sweden in their final group game on Tuesday ended an unbeaten run of 23 matches dating back to September 2010. France have kept 14 clean sheets in those games.

* Since their 2006 victory over Spain at the 2006 World Cup, France have been remarkably goal-shy at tournament finals.

In 12 finals games since then they have netted a mere eight goals and scored more than one in a match just once the 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Donetsk last week.

 Previous meetings:

30/04/22  Fr   France       0  Spain         4  Bordeaux

28/01/23  Fr   Spain        3  France        0  San Sebastian

22/05/27  Fr   France       1  Spain         4  Paris

14/04/29  Fr   Spain        8  France        1  Zaragoza

23/04/33  Fr   France       1  Spain         0  Paris

24/01/35  Fr   Spain        2  France        0  Madrid

15/03/42  Fr   Spain        4  France        0  Seville

19/06/49  Fr   France       1  Spain         5  Paris

17/03/55  Fr   Spain        1  France        2  Madrid

13/03/58  Fr   France       2  Spain         2  Paris

17/12/59  Fr   France       4  Spain         3  Paris

 2/04/61  Fr   Spain        2  France        0  Madrid

10/12/61  Fr   France       1  Spain         1  Paris

 9/01/63  Fr   Spain        0  France        0  Barcelona

17/10/68  Fr   France       1  Spain         3  Lyon

17/03/71  Fr   Spain        2  France        2  Valencia

 8/11/78  Fr   France       1  Spain         0  Paris

18/02/81  Fr   Spain        1  France        0  Madrid

 5/10/83  Fr   France       1  Spain         1  Paris

27/06/84  ECF  France       2  Spain         0  Paris

23/03/88  Fr   France       2  Spain         1  Bordeaux

20/02/91  ECQ  France       3  Spain         1  Paris

12/10/91  ECQ  Spain        1  France        2  Seville

15/06/96  ECF  Spain        1  France        1  Leeds

28/01/98  Fr   France       1  Spain         0  Paris

25/06/00  ECF  France       2  Spain         1  Bruges

29/03/01  Fr   Spain        2  France        1  Valencia

27/06/06  WCF  France       3  Spain         1  Hannover

 6/02/08  Fr   Spain        1  France        0  Malaga

 3/03/10  Fr   France       0  Spain         2  Paris

Head to head

 Played: 30

Spain 13 wins

France 11 wins

Draws 6 

 Key: WCF = World Cup finals, ECQ = European Championship qualifier, ECF = European Championship finals, Fr = Friendly

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