MATCH REPORT
ITALY 1 - 2 FRANCE
Delvecchio 54Wiltord 90
Trezeguet 103
Talk about cutting things fine...! The final started fairly cagily, as finals are of course wont to do, with the best chance falling to Youri Djorkaeff about five minutes before the break, but he could only stab tamely at Toldo....The game sorely needed a goal to prevent it from sliding into the realms of the instantly forgettable, and it duly arrived after 54 minutes, a delightful Totti backheel giving Pessotto the chance to measure his cross onto Delvecchio's left foot....1-0 to Italy....Thereafter the Italians fought a desperate rearguard action for the most part, with the notable exceptions of two Del Piero attempts from inside the area, one going wide and one to Barthez's feet, but other than that it was all France, with Henry spurning a couple of decent chances and Wiltord also passing up a golden opportunity....until, at the tail end of the four minutes of injury time, a rare Italian defensive mistake presented the ball at Wiltord's grateful feet, and he fired through a defender's legs and just to the left of a despairing wrongfooted Toldo....1-1, and into the Verlängerung, and from then on, there was only one winner.....France continued to pour forward, and when Robert Pires, one of the substitutes, skipped down the left-hand channel, got to the bye-line, and pulled the ball back to the waiting David Trezeguet, himself a substitute, the moment of truth had arrived, Trezeguet firing the ball high into the roof of the net for the second golden goal in as many games for France, and the second European Championship-winning golden goal in as many tournaments.....and history was made, France becoming the only nation to be World and European Champions simultaneously....Vive la France.....!!!