"Sometimes you just can't put into words what happens. I made every tackle, I jumped up and down, I kicked every ball along with the team. I am exhausted but immensely happy," Domenech said.

"I must savour the moment. Only football can give you such great moments."

Henry, who struck from close range shortly before the hour mark, volleying in following a Zinedine Zidane free-kick, said the win more than made up for the disastrous French defence of their title in 2002 when they bowed out goalless in the first round.

He himself was sent-off in the second match against Uruguay.

"I said before that we were not here to dream, but tonight is what dreams are made of," said the 28-year-old.

Zidane's face was wreathed in smiles after once again postponing his imminent retirement.

"This is huge," gushed the hero of the French triumph in 1998 - at the Brazilians' expense.

"We had to put in a huge performance and we did so. We had to hold it together defensively.

"We deserve our victory. Now we will try and get into the final, as we do not want it to end here. It is so wonderful that we want to carry on," added the 34-year-old.

Fellow veteran Patrick Vieira said France had played "a great match."

He said: "I think we knew that we would have to if we wanted to make it to the semis. And over the 90 minutes we totally deserved it."

Vieira admitted that constant carping back home over the apparent decline of his generation of 1998 stars had hurt.

"I have nothing left to prove but the criticism hurts," he revealed.

Defender Willy Sagnol said France had just kept on getting better after a slow start in the tournament.

"We had a tough first round group but we found our form against Spain and our self-confidence soared.

"Now we want to go to Berlin!"

Domenech warned that beating Brazil was not something to get carried away about.

"The Portuguese will not be easy to get past. But I am looking forward to meeting them. We are in the semis and we must savour the moment. These are great moments," said the bespectacled coach.