Sport | Football
World Cup Finals marred by Zidane's red card
As the blue shirts swarmed the turf after Fabio Grosso's penalty shot found the target, one Roberto Baggio must have breathed a huge sigh of relief.
- By Gautam Bhattacharyya, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 10, 2006
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Dubai: As the blue shirts swarmed the turf after Fabio Grosso's penalty shot found the target, one Roberto Baggio must have breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Italy exorcised the ghosts of the 1994 final in the US when they won the World Cup, beating France 5-3 on penalties on a dramatic night at the Berlin Stadium.
It was the second final to be decided on a tie-breaker after '94, when the ponytailed Baggio missed the decisive penalty to give Brazil the glittering Cup.
The two contests were like chalk and cheese though in terms of entertainment value. Unlike the battle in the US, it was a classic here with two hours of attacking soccer, a controversial penalty and the sending off of arguably the best footballer in the post-Maradona generation - Zinedine Zidane.
After the teams finished level at 1-1 after extra time, in the shootout David Trezeguet hit the bar with his spot kick handing Italy the World Cup for the fourth time.
Zidane, the French captain whose individual brilliance played a key role behind their '98 triumph and then the Euro Championship two years later, was sent off after 111 minutes for a head butt into the chest of Marco Materazzi after the two players had a heated exchanged of words.
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The game had got off to an eventful start when Thierry Henry needed extensive treatment after being dazed by a Fabio Cannavaro body-check, as the Italy captain made an early impact in his 100th international.
The worried French fans were soon cheering, however, when Florent Malouda drove into the box and was felled by a clumsy challenge from Marco Materazzi.
Zidane stepped up to take the seventh-minute penalty, opting to shoot above the diving Gianluigi Buffon and the ball struck the bar before bouncing down behind the line to put France ahead.
Italy equalised after 19 minutes when Materazzi atoned for his earlier lapse by rising magnificently above Patrick Vieira to head home an Andrea Pirlo corner from the right. Pirlo was named the Man-of-the-Match.
- With inputs from Reuters
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