Spanish wunderkind Lamine Yamal curled in a stunning strike on Tuesday night to relaunch his side's fortunes during their Euro 2024 semi-final against France in Munich.
France took the lead in the ninth minute at the Allianz Arena when skipper Kylian Mbappé swung in a cross from the left for Randal Kolo Muani to head home past Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon.
It was the first goal scored by a Frenchman in open play since the start of the tournament on 14 June.
But Yamal, who will celebrate his 17th birthday on Saturday levelled mid way through the first-half.
The Barcelona starlet cut in from the right wing, swerved past two France defenders and with his left foot sent the ball round the despairing dive of the France goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
The strike made him the youngest player to score at the European championships in its 64-year history.
And before France could react to such a sumptuous equaliser, Spain were in front. Dani Olmo's shot took a wicked deflection off France defender Jules Koundé to beat Maignan.
France regrouped from the double whammy and held their ground to reach half-time with the scoreline still at 2-1.
Return
France came out after the pause bristling with intent. Dayot Upamecano and Aurélien Tchouaméni went close with headers from corners but the feted fleet-footed front line of Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé failed to whizz past a Spain defence superbly marshalled by Nacho and Aymeric Laporte in the centre and a dynamic Marc Cucurella on the left.
Even the introduction of winger Bradley Barcola and striker Antoine Griezmann failed to inject vitality into the French attack.
"Spain are a very good team," France boss Didier Deschamps told French broadcaster TF1.
"We knew that before the game and we saw it this evening.
"We opened the scoring and we were causing them problems but Spain have been impressive up until now and showed it again."
Spanish teams won back-to-back European championships in 2008 and 2012 either side of their first World Cup victory.
They will be seeking their fourth European title since the inception of the tournament in 1960 when they take on England or the Netherlands in the final on 14 July at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
