Italy stand tall on top of the world

World Cup Final/ Italy 1 France 1 (aet) Italy win 5-3 on penalties: Twelve years on from the agony of a penalty shoot-out defeat by Brazil in Pasadena six after the their dramatic extra-time loss to the French in the final of Euro 2000, Italy were crowned champions of the world for a fourth time last night after a game that lacked a little of the quality we might have hoped for but still produced a spectacularly dramatic finale to this competition.

In only the second penalty shoot-out to ever decide the destination of this title a miss by David Trezequet, his side's hero in Rotterdam, was to prove decisive. Sylvain Wiltord, Eric Abidal and Willy Sagnol all safely converted their spot kicks but it was not enough as Raymond Domenech's men watched from the centre circle as Fabien Barthez was beaten by Andrea Pirlo, Marco Materazzi, Daniele de Rossi, Alessandro Del Piero and, finally, Fabio Grosso. It was a flawless finish to a campaign that for all the distractions back at home became increasingly impressive as the tournament progressed.

Marcello Lippi's men will be rightly celebrated for their victory here, in what was an even game that proved eventful from the start and became increasingly gripping as it moved steadily towards its conclusion. Still, no account of the contest will surely ever be written without mention being made of the extraordinary way in which Zinedine Zidane drew the curtain on a glittering career.

Having put France ahead just five minutes in, worked tirelessly to influence much of what followed and come close to restoring his side's lead sensationally moments before the midway point of extra time, the French skipper was sent off for headbutting Materazzi in the chest. Marcel Desailly suffered the same fate when the French won the title in 1998 but the offence here was altogether more reckless and there would be no let-off in terms of the eventual result.

At the time of the incident, some 110 minutes in, the French were fractionally on top and a dream ending to Zidane's career still seemed to be very much within his grasp.

Then, after being held by Materazzi and appearing to have his nipple "tweaked" as he tried to get into space around the box, the 34-year-old exchanged words with the defender before coolly launching his attack. Almost incredibly, the last act of a glittering career was to be a juvenile assault on a rival born out of an inability to retain his self-control. It was also to deprive France of any chance of grabbing a late winner.

For a while, though, it looked as though he might get away with it for the referee had clearly not witnessed the incident and nor apparently had his assistant. Instead, Zidane wandered about while Materazzi received attention and his Italian team-mates complained vociferously. Eventually, though, the Argentinian match official was called to the sidelines, shortly after monitors in the press area showed a replay of the incident as it happens, and the red card was quickly produced.

The dismissal handed the initiative back to an Italian side who had been the better of the two in the opening half and had defended capably for most of the second while seeking to hit their opponents on the break.

Making his 100th appearance for his country, the team's skipper Fabio Cannavaro was outstanding while Andrea Pirlo, Materazzi and Gianluca Zambrotta weren't far behind.

Zidane's penalty itself was a remarkable affair, with Materazzi penalised for clipping Florent Malouda inside the area when clearly trying to avoid contact and the French skipper then almost proving too cool with the spot kick. As Buffon committed himself to going one way, Zidane nonchalantly chipped his kick the other but then had to delay his celebrations as the ball struck the underside of the bar, bounced over the line and spun back onto the underside of the bar. The Italian goalkeeper moved swiftly to gather and restart play but Zizou had tentatively started to celebrate and the referee promptly confirmed the goal would stand.

Over the 40 minutes that followed Italy edged the game in terms of possession and created the better chances, one of which they converted a quarter of an hour later when Materazzi rose well above Patrick Vieira to meet Pirlo's outswinging corner eight yards out and powered his header over Franck Ribery on the French line.

That Domenech's side could get caught with such a basic piece of set-piece play was a little surprising. That they were lucky to avoid conceding further goals from two carbon copies of the routine during what remained of the half was staggering though.

Materazzi was penalised for a push in the first instance and Luca Toni sent his attempt on goal crashing off the top of the crossbar moments after being denied an attempt on goal from play by a brilliantly executed Thuram tackle.

It was, however, a more composed France that came out for the second half and they should have had a second penalty when Malouda was brought down by Zambrotta but this time the Argentinian referee waved play on.

What they rarely did, though, was force Buffon into serious action, a Henry shot from 15 yards amounting to the bulk of his workload during the second period of ordinary time.

Extra time produced very few goal chances apart from Zidane's headed effort, brilliantly deflected over the bar by Buffon.