The Greatest Euro Matches: France-Italy (2000)

The 2000 European Championships were the first that were held in two countries, as Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the tournament that following the 1996 tournament continued to involve 16 teams.
In 1998 France had won the World Cup at home in awesome style, and had thus entered the European Championships as favourites for the European title, as they indeed had one of the best teams in the world led by the undisputed best player in the world at the time, Zinedine Zidane, who at the time was playing for Juventus. But Zidane was not the only star in the French side. The veteran Manchester United keeper Fabien Barthez stood behind a strong defense led by Inter's veteran Laurent Blanc, alongside a string of outstanding defenders: Parma's Lilian Thurram, Bayern Munich's Bixente Lizarazu, Arsenal's Patrick Vieira and Chelsea's Marcel Desailly. Chelsea's Didier Deschamps was the captain of a team with a fantastic midfield alongside Zinedine Zidane, alongside Arsenal's Emmanuel Petit, Marseille's Robert Pires or Kaiserslautern's veteran Youri Djorkaeff. Up front coach Roger Lemerre had difficult but luxurious choices: Bordaux's Christophe Dugarry, Real Madrid's Nikolas Anelka, Monaco's David Trezeguet or the young Arsenal striker, Thierry Henry.
In spite of it all France had struggled a bit in qualification winning their group ahead of Ukraine and Russia. In the first round of the tournament they had beaten Denmark 3-0, the Czech Republic 2-1, and had lost the final match 2-3 to the Netherlands to take second place in the group.
But France had proven that they were a great team that grew with the tournament, and they defeated Spain 2-1 in quarterfinals and Portugal 2-1 in a difficult semifinal match, with a Zinedine Zidane that had grown steadily with each man to become the best player of the tournament. He and France were now in the final to try to become the first team since West Germany in the 1970s to take both the World and European titles.
 Italy were the rivals.
Italy had not done well in the European Championships since they had taken the title in 1968. Coach Dino Zoff nevertheless had a strong list of players from the best clubs in Europe: AC Milan's veteran Paolo Maldini was the captain of the side alongside other of Europe's best defenders: Parma's Fabio Cannavaro, Juventus Gianlucca Pessotto, Lazio's Alessandro Nesta and AC Milan's Demetrio Albertini. In midfield there were some fantastic offensive players such as Juventus Alessandro del Piero and Rom'as Francesco Totti with the striker's choices being Roma's Marco Delvecchio, Vicenzo Montella and Juventus Filippo Inzaghi.
Italy had qualified ahead of Denmark and Wales and had won their first round group with three straight victories over Turkey, Belgium and Sweden. In the quarterfinals they had defeated Romania 2-0 and had been in a long semifinal against the Netherlands, winning a goalless match only on penalties.
The match was largely seen as a contest between the French offensive prowess and the Italian disciplined defense. Alessandro del Piero was left on the bench as three players were put on the Italian midfield to check Zinedine Zidane, who was largely absent from the first half. Still, France had some isolated attempt, most closely Youri Djourkaeff when he shot weakly almost alone in front of the Fiorentina keeper Francesco Toldo.
Thierry Henry hit the post in a rather clumsy shot that wasn't really threatening, but repeatedly troubled the Italian defense with his speed, and they fouled him repeatedly. In the second half the French coach decided to push Zinedine Zidane forward to get him more involved in the match. Ironically, this had the effect of freeing up the Italian midfielders, and with the introduction of Alessandro del Piero Italy became more threatening. In the 55th minute Francesco Totti made an heel kick overlap to Gianlucca Pessoto that completely took apart the French defense. Pessotto's cross into the French area was first-timed into goal by Marco Delvecchio, sneaking in between two defenders.
The French reply was to introduce two new strikers, Bordeaux's Sylvain Wiltord and David Trezeguet, in the next twenty minutes, and pushing forward. This gave the Italians more space up front, where Alessandro del Piero missed a couple of chances that would have sentenced the match.
However, it was mostly France trying to get that vital equalizer, and it happened in the third minute of injury time, when Italian fans were are already celebrating the title. Sylvain Wiltord, one of the substitutes, received the ball inside the right hand side of the Italian area. At a rather steep angle he shot flat and hard towards the near post and the ball seemed to sneak in below Francesco Toldo, who should perhaps have had it.
France had managed the equalizer against all odds, and the match now went into extra-time, with a newly added courage against the Italian disappointment. It was France pressing in extra time, and towards the end of the first half it was two substitutes who produced the golden goal: Robert Pires elegantly dribbled through four Italian defenders on the left side, and his cross into the Italian area was a bit behind David Trezeguet, who nevertheless stepped back and in one elegant movement and hammered the ball into the upper right-hand corner of the goal, this time with no chance whatsoever for Toldo.
This was the second time a Euro final was decided by a golden goal, and the last time as well, since the rule was discontinued afterwards. It just seemed too odd to fans that there was no chance of return. The clash between these two arch-rivals would be repeated in the 2006 World Cup final, where Italy would get their revenge for this painful defeat.
At the same time this was the last tournament won by this great French side.

Rotterdam, 2nd July, 2000, Feyenoord Stadium 
Attendance: 48,200
Referee: Anders Frisk, Sweden

France-Italy 2-1 (AET) 

France: Fabien Barthez; Bixente Lizarazu (Robert Pires, 86), Patrick Vieira, Laurent Blanc, Youri Djorkaeff (David Trezeguet, 76), Didier Deschamps (c ), Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Liliam Thuram, Christophe Dugarry (Sylvain Wiltord, 58). Coach: Roger Lemerre. 
Italy: Francesco Toldo; Paolo Maldini (c), Demetrio Albertini, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianlucca Pessotto, Alessandro Nesta, Luigi Di Baggio (Massimo Ambrosini, 66), Mark Iuliano, Stefano Fiore (Alessandro Del Piero, 53), Francesco Totti, Marco Delvecchio (Vicenzo Montella, 86). Coach: Dino Zoff 

Goals:
0-1 Delvecchio (55) 
1-1 Sylvain Wiltord (90+4) 
2-1 David Trezeguet (103) (gg)

Greatest World Cup matches: France-Italy (2006)

France and Italy are two of the most powerful footballing nations in the world. With Italy having a long history of dominating the match, France had only won its first world title in 1998, and remained at the top of the world game since then. Both teams had played many times, also in the World Cups: in 1938 in a legendary quarter-final, in 1986 in the last-16, and in 1998 when France had defeated the Italians in the quarter-final on the way to win their first world cup title. But not only had they faced one another in the world stage: in the 2000 European championship final France had defeated Italy 2-1 in extra time in a dramatic match. So the two team knew each other well before facing one another in the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin.
France had entered the tournament looking rather weak, fighting hard to qualify from an apparently easy group, and with an ageing team. The star of the team, Zinedine Zidane from Real Madrid, three time FIFA World Player of the year (1998, 2000, 2003), had retired from the national team in 2004, but when things were going badly for the French, he was asked to return, and he captained France to the World Cup. Nevertheless, things had still not looked good for France: they had not played well, and had opened with ties against Switzerland and South Corea, before a 2-0 victory against Togo had put them through to the last-16 against Spain. But here the French veterans woke up: facing the fancied Spaniards they won 3-1, giving the French renewed energy. In the quarterfinal France outplayed the defending world champions of Brazil, winning 1-0, and in the semifinal they had defeated Portugal 1-0 to make it to their second World Cup final ever.
Italy, coached by Marcelo Lippi, had not entered the tournament as outright favourites for the title, but with a very strong and disciplined team: Defensively the team was outstanding with for instance Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi from Inter, and Juventus’ Gianlucca Zambrotta. In midfield they had the elegant Francesco Totti from AS Roma, and the great Alessandro Del Piero from Juventus.
In the first round Italy had won their group ahead of Ghana, the Czech Republic and USA. In the last-16 they had played a very close match with Australia whom they only managed to defeat 1-0 on a late penalty kick. In the quarterfinals Italy defeated Ukraine 3-0, and in the semifinals they played a great match against the popular German hosts, whom they defeated 2-0 on two late goals in extra time.
While Italy had looked the strongest, France had grown the most during the tournament, and considering their previous history, it looked to become a final full of drama.
France started the game best: after only six minutes the Olympique Lyon winger Florent Malouda was brought down inside the Italian penalty area by Marco Materazzi, and Zinedine Zidane brought France ahead 1-0 on the following penalty. Zinedine Zidane thus became the only fourth player ever to score in two different World Cup finals. The goal nevertheless did not discourage the Italians: the AC Milan midfielders Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso started taking over the midfield, and only 19 minutes into the match the growing Italian dominance led to a goal: Marco Matterazzi scored on a header after an Andrea Pirlo corner kick.
The score being 1-1, the game continued back and forth, with no team really dominating, although Italy had the biggest chances on corner kicks from Andrea Pirlo, one on which Luca Toni hit the crossbar.
In the second half both teams went for the victory: both Luca Toni and Thierry Henry had good chances, but were unable to capitalize, and the match ended 1-1, and had to go into extra time.
France seemed more energized in the extra time, and both Frank Ribery and Zinedine Zidane had good chances. However, the most dramatic and memorable moment of the final (and perhaps of the entire tournament) came five minutes into the second half of extra time: with the ball not nearby, Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi seemed to be discussing something, when Zinedine Zidane suddenly turned around and headbutted Matterazzi on the chest. There was no doubt from the Argentinian referee Elizondo who correctly gave Zinedine Zidane a red card.
This was Zinedine Zidane’s last match in a World Cup and for France, ending a great career in disgrace. However, he remains popular as his aggression was seen as a response to Matterazzi’s provocations, although this meant a significant weakening of his team, and an thoughtless act in front of the whole world.
The match was to be only the second World Cup final ever to be decided on penalty kicks, and Italy had been the losing side on the previous one in 1994. But this time things went better for Italy: all the Italian players scored, while Juventus’ French player, David Trezeguet, hit the crossbar for France.
Italy had won their 4th World Cup, becoming the second most winning nation ever after Brazil.

Match Stats:

• 9th July, 2006 Olympia Stadium, Berlin
• Attendance: 69,000
• Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

Italy-France 1-1 (After Extra Time)
Goals:0-1 Zidane (7) (pen)1-1 Materazzi (19)

Penalty kicks:
Italy-France 5-3

• 1-0 Pirlo
• 1-1 Wiltord
• 2-1 Materazzi
• Trezeguet missed for France
• 3-1 De Rossi
• 3-2 Abidal
• 4-2 Del Piero
• 4-3 Sagnol
• 5-3 Grosso

Teams:
Italy: Buffon, Cannavaro, Grosso, Materazzi, Gattuso, Pirlo, Camoranesi (Del Piero), Totti (De Rossi), Zambrotta, Perrota (Iaquinta), Toni
France: Barthez, Abidal, Vieira (Diarra), Thuram, Sagnol, Ribery (Trezeguet), Galas, Makalele, Malouda, Zidane (RC, 111), Henry (Wiltord)