The Daily Mail showed Romeo, wearing a replica version of his father's shirt, being comforted by mother Victoria after the 2-1 result in which the French scored twice in injury time and captain Beckham had a penalty saved.

Britain's biggest-selling tabloid, The Sun, used just one word on their front page -- "Gutted" -- with a picture of the England skipper covering his eyes.

The Daily Mirror, with the same shot, ran a banner headline of "Broken Lionhearts".

Although news of the European elections took prominence in the broadsheets, each of the country's national newspapers covered the match prominently on page one, most with the picture of Beckham whose second-half penalty miss was generally described as the turning point of the match.

Despite the disappointment of two late Zinedine Zidane goals, most papers looked for positives and pointed out that, with Switzerland on Thursday and Croatia next Monday still to play in group games, England were not out yet.

ZIDANE'S BRILLIANCE

In its comment column The Sun said: "We frightened the life out of the French, and there are two easier games to come. So don't be down-hearted. Let the flags flutter just as proudly today."

The Daily Telegraph's soccer correspondent Henry Winter felt England had been robbed.

"How cruel, how unfair, how brutal. Just when England thought their gutsy defending and Frank Lampard's fine header had guaranteed a Jour de Gloire, Zinedine Zidane struck two astonishing late goals," he wrote.

But Matt Dickinson of The Times feared the shock of Zidane's goals, from a free-kick and then a penalty following an error by Steven Gerrard, could have derailed their campaign.

"So cruel and brutal were the blows inflicted on them by Zinedine Zidane in those amazing last few minutes that...last night's loss could send them into the depths of despair," he wrote.

BBC Radio Five pointed out that now England fans knew how Bayern Munich supporters felt after their team was similarly sucker-punched to defeat by two goals in the 1999 Champions League final by Manchester United.

The Daily Mail praised several of the England players for their performances, especially youngsters Ledley King in defence and striker Wayne Rooney, but also exalted Zidane and compared his performance to Beckham. The Frenchman, it decided, had proved he was "The Real Master".