MALOUDA MAKES IT

Florent Malouda is the latest Chelsea player to book his place in Ukraine and Poland for next summer's European Championships.

The winger was a part of the French side that earned a 1-1 draw at home to Bosnia & Herzegovina on Tuesday night, playing the first hour in Paris as his side trailed an Edin Dzeko goal, only for Dzeko's Man City team-mate Samir Nasri to strike a late penalty to send the French through. Bosnia will now go to the play-offs.

Raul Meireles and Petr Cech however must participate in next month's play-offs having finished second in their respective groups, while there will be a summer of rest for Romelu Lukaku, Branislav Ivanovic and Yossi Benayoun, whose Israel side went into the final round of qualifying matches knowing they could not reach their group leaders Greece and Croatia.

Not in action were John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, who helped wrap up England's qualification for the Finals on Friday.

Cech's Czech Republic were 4-1 winners in Lithuania on Tuesday night, the Chelsea goalkeeper only beaten by a second-half penalty, and they go into next month's play-offs in second spot behind Spain, for whom Fernando Torres andJuan Mata were both unused subs in the evening's 3-1 win against Scotland in Alicante.

Meireles and Portugal went into tonight's final group game away at Denmark in pole position, needing to avoid defeat to guarantee qualification, but they were beaten 2-1. The Chelsea

Ivanovic's Serbia were beaten 1-0 in Slovenia, the Chelsea man playing the full game at centre-back. The defeat leaves them in third place, and so it will be a summer off for the powerful defender.

Lukaku was a half-time substitute for Belgium against Germany in Dusseldorf. They required a victory against the hosts, boasting a 100 percent record, if they were to stand a chance of reaching the play-offs, but the Chelsea man could not prevent a 3-1 defeat. The youngster did force a good save from German keeper Manuel Neuer before Everton's Marouane Fellaini pulled a late goal back. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was an unused sub for the Belgians.

John Mikel Obi played the final 20 minutes of Nigeria's 0-0 friendly draw against Ghana at Watford's Vicarage Road.

It was a happier night at Under 21 level for Conor Clifford, who played the first 66 minutes of Ireland's 4-1 win in Liechtenstein, and Milan Lalkovic, whose Slovakia were 6-0 winners away at Latvia. The winger played the full 90 minutes.

On Monday night, Josh McEachran was an unused sub for England Under 21s, who won 2-1 in Norway.