Perhaps we shall never know what he was thinking on that day. A salute to Zizou, nonetheless.
Midway through extra time in soccer’s World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane rose majestically to head the goal designed to claim the trophy for France.
Instead the consistently excellent Italian keeper, Gianluigi Buffon, arched high to tip the ball one-handed over the bar and preserve the 1-1 scoreline.
What subsequently passed through Zidane’s mind in the dying moments of a career that had taken him from the backstreets of Marseille to the glamorous European club giants, Juventus and Real Madrid?
Confounding the pessimists, he had gradually recaptured the form which propelled France to their 1998 World Cup triumph. But after Buffon’s save he must have known his final chance of glory on the game’s ultimate stage had all but vanished.
Certainly something snapped 10 minutes before the final whistle at the Berlin Olympic stadium. After a brief altercation the French captain suddenly head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was sent from the field. His demoralised team then succumbed 5-3 in the penalty shootout.
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