Drama on an unprecedented scale in the European championships visited the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges yesterday to ensure an unforgettable finish to the most competitive of the four groups.

It ended with French referee Gilles Veissiere being felled by a coin thrown from the crowd as Spain scored twice in seven minutes of injury time to revive a title bid that was in imminent danger of being pronounced dead at the end of normal time.

Yugoslavia coach Vujadin Boskov condemned the supporters who targeted the referee. A Yugoslav supporter invaded the pitch to confront Veissiere after the final whistle and was pulled away. But the French official was then cut above the eye by a flying coin. Boskov said: "Supporters are as they are, but I don't think it is a good gesture to throw a coin at the referee."

Alfonso's second goal of the game had ensured that instead of summary elimination, the Spaniards end up topping the table. And after trooping dejectedly from the park, the Yugoslavs learned that they also had been reprieved by the blank scoreline in the other Group C game. Veissiere, entrusted with the responsibility of imparting justice in a fixture which had all the dark signs of a referee's nightmare, may well have sensed that he would have to run the gauntlet of an angry Yugoslav crowd as early as the 63rd minute.

On that occasion, he had to be rescued by players from both teams as an angry Yugoslav spectator invaded the pitch following the dismissal of Slavisa Jokanovic for a second bookable offence.

And a second enraged Yugoslav fan hassled him after he awarded Spain a 93rd-minute penalty from which Mendieta levelled the scoreline to heighten the sense of theatre for Alfonso's flamboyant winner three minutes later.

The Frenchman dropped to his knees clutching his head as he was about to walk down the tunnel before a quick-thinking official averted the threat of even further reprisals by lifting him up and ushering him to the sanctuary of his dressing-room.

An official inquiry is likely to be ordered into the angry scenes which followed a game frequently enriched by passages of sheer brilliance and yet stained at times by nasty, professional fouls. In all, Veissiere booked five Yugoslav players before reaching into his pocket for the red card.

The pace of their deliveries in set-piece situations is something which no other team here can match. And the manner in which Ljubinko Drulovic contrived the openings for their first two goals from Savo Milosevic and Dejan Govedarica, testified yet again, to their creative skills, even on days when Dragan Stojkovic is less than brilliant.

In the end they got no more than deserved when the bush telegraph confirmed that the result between Norway and Slovenia had enabled them to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Of Spain, it can be said that they continue to be the great enigmas of European football. In a sublime 10-minute spell approaching half-time, they produced a blend of pace, power and perception that may not be matched during the remainder of this championships.

And yet, even when Jokanovic's long, lonely walk to the touchline gave them a numerical advantage, they never threatened to repeat it in the second half until that eruption of frenzy in injury time.

No less than Stojkovic, his opposite number in the Yugoslav team, Raul has known better days. The persistence of Guardiola and Helguera in midfield did compensate, however.

Not the least impressive aspect of Yugoslavia's chequered performance was the brave, unselfish running of Savo Milosevic up front and the big man got no more than he deserved when he opened the scoring with his fourth championship goal in the 31st minute.

A brilliant run and cross by Drulovic undid the Spaniards in the first instance and Milosevic swept between the two Spanish central defenders, Abelardo and Paco, to power the header home at speed.

Raul, in his most influential moments of the game, fashioned Spain's purple patch at the end of the first half. First, he set up the chance for Alfonso to beat Ivica Kralj with an angled shot and then was denied only by a fine save by the goalkeeper off a firmly struck volley.

Both teams made half-time substitutions and in each instance the decision was vindicated. Dejan Govedarica, on for Vladimir Jugovic, applied the decisive finish to restore Yugoslavia's lead after more moments of sorcery from Drulovic only for Pedro Munitis, one of three Spanish replacements, to equalise with a shot which went in off a post.

Even when reduced to 10 men, the Yugoslavs continued to look menacing on the break and the point was underlined when Govedarica picked out Slobodan Komljenovic with the pass which enabled him to score from short range.

At that point, Spain were living on no more than bruised ambition. But the game was stood on its head after Veissiere appeared to signal to the fourth official on the sideline that he intended to play five minutes extra-time.

Abelardo, in a last desperate attempt to retrieve the game moved upfield and when he was fouled in the penalty area, Mendieta reached out for the acclamation of his compatriots after converting the spotkick.

Even that, however, wouldn't have been enough to qualify them for the last eight. Then as Veissiere took another long look at his watch, Ismael Urzaiz knocked down a cross from Gardiola and Alfonso volleyed it exultantly into the net.