Agencies

BERLIN, July 10: It came as little surprise that Zinedine Zidane's name received the biggest cheer in the Olympic stadium here on Sunday when it was read out by the stadium announcer ahead of the World Cup final between France and Italy.

The majority of the 69,000 fans present knew that not only were they witnessing the sporting spectacle of 2006 first hand, they were also bidding farewell to probably the best footballer of his generation as the 34-year-old lined out for France for the 108th and final time.

Zidane had already called it a day with his club Real Madrid.

What did come as a surprise to everyone in the stadium was that Zidane left the pitch in the second period of extra time with the scores level at 1-1 after seeing a straight red card for inexplicably turning around and head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the chest with the ball nowhere to be seen.

So probably France's greatest ever player was not able to see live how Fabio Grosso ensured Italy won their fourth title 5-3 on penalties.

But up to the incident with Materazzi, the mercurial midfielder did not disappoint, adding another magic memory for football fans to reminisce about in the years to come.

With the match only seven minutes old France were awarded a penalty when referee Horacio Elizondo adjudged that Materazzi had brought down Florent Maluda inside the area.

Up stepped the three-time world player of the year to send the Italian goalkeeper Gianluca Buffon the wrong way with an outrageously cheeky chip that crashed under the bar and bounced just behind the goal line.

Only a man of Zidane's stature would attempt such a thing on the greatest stage of them all but then again Zidane has achieved everything in the game and already had a World Cup winner's medal from 1998 when he scored twice in the final in Paris as France beat Brazil 3-0.

That spot kick goal moved Zidane's World Cup final goal tally to three, but he later became only the fourth player to be sent off in a World Cup final.

Zidane, the son of Algerians, has embodied France's efforts to integrate its large immigrant population and his brace against Brazil six years ago probably did more for that objective than a thousand posters.

In fact, after helping France to their first world title, Zizou's face was projected on the side of the Arc de Triomphe following that famous win.

Despite being asked to come out of international retirement to help a France team struggling to qualify for the World Cup in Germany, Zidane still had his critics in France, with many thinking he was too old to offer a potent threat and that coach Raymond Domenech should look to the future rather than wallowing in the past.

These critics felt vindicated when Les Bleus struggled at the start of the tournament drawing against Switzerland and South Korea before a victory against Togo sealed their progress.

But in the round of 16 tie against Spain, Zidane once again showed what has made him a legend, putting in a sublime performance and getting on the scoresheet as France overcame a strongly fancied Spain side 3-1.

Another man of the match performance saw off defending champions Brazil in the quarter-finals while Zidane was coolness personified against Portugal when he converted a penalty kick to book the final date with Italy.

Another penalty against the Azzurri seemed to have put France and Zidane on the road to a second title and he nearly won it with a header in the first period of extra time.

But instead it will be the incident with Materazzi, scorer of Italy's equaliser, that fans will remember Zizou for most at Germany 2006.

No better platform for probably the greatest player of the last decade to bid farewell than a World Cup final watched by over a billion people worldwide. But there was surely a better abiding memory to leave his millions of fans with than what seemed a moment of temporary insanity.