Published: 51 minutes ago
JEREMY MENEZ and Yohan Cabaye drowned out co-hosts Ukraine as Les Bleus made a splash towards the last eight.
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Two goals in the space of three second-half minutes were enough to sink Oleg Blokhin's men after play had been suspended for an hour due to a heavy thunderstorm.
Menez had missed a host of early chances and was lucky not be sent for an early bath after escaping a second yellow card on the stroke of half-time.
But having survived, the Paris Saint Germain forward scored the French's first before Cabaye sealed the win for Laurent Blanc's side.
It was France's first victory in a major tournament since beating Portugal in the 2006 World Cup semi-final and stretched their unbeaten run to 23 games.
They now sit pretty on four points in Group D with just Sweden left to play.
Ukraine, meanwhile, will need to get something out of their final game with England if they hope to progress.
Thankfully the drainage system at the Donbass Arena proved effective as the game, which looked in danger of being postponed at one point, got back under way just after 6pm.
As the match resumed, Karim Benzema decided to test Andriy Pyatov with the slippery ball but his strike from distance was straight at the Ukraine stopper.
Mathieu Debuchy also had a pop from range before the French had the ball in the net through Menez but he was narrowly offside as Franck Ribery’s ball was threaded through.
After an early soaking, Ukraine slowly found their feet in the game with Andriy Yarmolenko having the first strike at Hugo Lloris.
But at the other end Menez found some space in the box before blazing his shot into the stands.
And then shortly after, Ribery’s cross found the PSG ace but with just Pyatov to beat, he shot straight at the keeper when he should have scored.
Andriy Shevchenko looked to make the French pay as he cut in from the left and fired in a fierce drive from inside the box but Lloris was equal to it.
But Pyatov then produced an even better save to parry away Philippe Mexes’ goal-bound header from Samir Nasri’s corner.
There was a huge let off for France on the stroke of half-time as Menez, who had already been booked, clattered into Yevhen Selin but was spared a second booking by ref Kuipers.
And the French winger had yet another chance just after the break when he was sent clear into the box but the angle was tight as Pyatov comfortably dealt with his strike.
Ukraine looked a threat going forward, not least Shevchenko, and the veteran was inches away from opening the scoring as he cut inside Adil Rami before smashing one just over the bar from the left-hand edge of the box.
But it was that man Menez who finally gave Les Bleus a deserved lead as he cut in on the right from Ribery's ball before his left-footed drive beat Pyatov low down to his left.
The Ukrainian crowd fell silent and it was to get worse for them just three minutes later.
Benzema left his marker for dead before brilliantly slotting in Cabaye who got lucky with a little deflection off Oleh Gusev, before holding off the defender to make it two.
The impressive Benzema was looking to get on the scoresheet himself and hit a 25-yarder which was comfortably gathered by Pyatov.
France were now dominant and Cabaye was unlucky not to make it three as his lovely, curling effort hit the right-hand post with Pyatov well beaten.
Yaramolenko and Marko Devic had half chances for Ukraine late on but they never really threatened and the French held on for what turned out to be a comfortable win.
Ukraine: Pyatov, Gusev, Mykhalyk, Khacheridi, Selin, Yarmolenko (Aliev 68), Tymoschuk, Nazarenko (Milevskiy 60), Konoplianka, Shevchenko, Voronin (Devic 46). Subs Not Used: Koval, Kucher, Garmash, Shevchuk, Rotan, Seleznyov, Rakitskiy, Butko, Goryainov.
Booked: Selin, Tymoschuk.
France: Lloris, Debuchy, Rami, Mexes, Clichy, Diarra, Cabaye (M’Vila 68), Menez (Martin 73), Nasri, Ribery, Benzema (Giroud 75). Subs Not Used: Mandanda, Evra, Valbuena, Matuidi, Reveillere, Malouda, Ben Arfa, Koscielny, Carrasso.
Booked: Menez, Debuchy, Mexes.
Goals: Menez 53, Cabaye 56.
Att: 51,504
Ref: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland).
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