France had taken their time to get into the match, but, in terms of possession, they were well on top against a Ukrainian side which clearly lacked the finishing ability of injured Andrei Shevchenko, and they deserved their 2-0 win.

Teenage sensation Samir Nasri was given his second appearance by coach Raymond Domenech in his playmaker's role just behind lone striker Anelka.

Francois Clerc came in at right back in place of injured Willy Sagnol and Lilian Thuram, captain in place of injured Patrick Vieira, put his national appearance record up to 129.

After an uneventful opening spell, the first real incident of note came two minutes before half-time when the pony-tailed Andriy Voronin caught the French defence, who were expecting an offside whistle, napping.

His cross from the right however brought a good tackle by Clerc on Maxym Kalynychenko to save the day for Domenech's men. Then in first half injury time Ukraine's Oleg Gusev was through but was tackled in the box.

Just after the break, Anelka shot wide of the left hand post as France started brightly and a period of French domination preceded the goal by Ribery in the 57th minute. The 24-year-old, winning his 17th cap, outpaced Ukraine's defence to sidefoot home left-footed into an empty net.

Claude Makelele had shown vision to hit the long ball up to Ribery leaving him set fair to apply a clinical finish.

"I think it was important to win tonight in front of our own fans," Ribery told TF1 television station afterwards.

Domenech said: "Tonight we had the result, the fans, the atmosphere -- it was what we expected but I don't think Georgia will be any easier in a few days time."

Midway through the half Ukraine's Ruslan Rotan came on for Kalynychenko in the first substitution of the match.

With 19 minutes to go, Anelka made the match safe. In an impressive piece of individual skill, he jinked the ball up into the air before firing home from an acute angle on the left.

Anelka went off to applause with a quarter-hour to go, replaced by Djibril Cisse, and Lassana Diarra played the last 10 minutes in place of Nasri.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy savoured France's victory from the presidential tribune though injured striker Shevchenko, also in the VIP section, must have been itching to get on to the pitch to give his side some penetration up front.

The next time these teams meet will be in the last qualifier in Kiev on November 21.