French fans praise Zidane despite red card

By Jon Boyle

PARIS (Reuters) – Disappointed fans paid tribute to
retiring France captain Zinedine Zidane on Sunday and refused
to blame him for their team’s World Cup final defeat by Italy
after he was sent off for head-butting an opponent.

The Avenue des Champs Elysee in Paris, the traditional
theater for displays of national joy, was cast as Heartache
Avenue for the night as thousands of sad Les Bleus fans milled
around the celebrated thoroughfare in dazed silence.

Four women sat outside one bar in the capital’s historic
Latin Quarter with tears streaking the red, white and blue
national flags painted on their faces as defeat, and the
prospect of footballing life after Zidane, sank in.

“It’s a very sad exit for Zidane,” said Vincent Schneider,
24, who has just finished his university studies, after
watching the game in Paris’s Latin Quarter. “He was the major
actor in the World Cup. He was under too much pressure.”

Zidane’s dismissal in extra time for an astonishing head
butt into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi ensured
he missed a tense penalty shootout that Italy won 5-3 and
killed hopes of a fairytale ending to a glittering career.

However for his fans, from President Jacques Chirac
downwards, the talismanic playmaker known as ‘Zizou’ remained a
footballing icon despite finishing his career in disgrace.

“I don’t know what happened, why he was punished,” said
Chirac, who was in Berlin for the final.

“But I would like to express all the respect that I have
for a man who represents at the same time all the most
beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can
imagine, and who has honored French sport and, simply, France.”

OUTRAGEOUS PENALTY

Widely regarded as a footballing genius by millions of fans
around the world, Zidane revealed his flawed character when he
butted Materazzi off the ball after they had exchanged words.

The playmaker had given France the lead with an outrageous
chipped penalty in the seventh minute before Italy drew level
12 minutes later when Materazzi headed the equalizer.

“What a shame for Zidane. What an awful way to go out,”
said Karim Amri, 29, after watching the game in a Paris bar.

Despite seeing red, fans said Zidane was guaranteed a place
in the French pantheon of national heroes.

“He remains the legend in football for me,” fan Metin
Akturk, 31, who works in information technology, said after
watching the game in a Paris bar.

“I think he was insulted, and he just can’t take insults,”
he said guessing at Zidane’s altercation with Materazzi.

Asked if the France captain’s dismissal was the turning
point in the game, he said: “No, it was written that way.”

Paris-based French Italians savored their team’s triumph.

“At last, at last. This is massive. We deserved it. I’m off
to the Champs Elysee, we’re going to celebrate for four years,”
shouted civil servant Enzo Facchini, 37.

France drafted in 12,000 police to ensure order at public
showings of the game and only minor, isolated incidents were
reported in Paris where police said 100,000 people took to the
streets after the match.

Chirac, who is due to host the national team for lunch at
his Elysee Palace residence on Monday, said the players and
coaching staff should be proud of their achievement.

“I imagine they will be sad. They have no reason to be sad.
They have done something extraordinary, which has gripped the
whole of France, which is admirable in all respects,” he said.

“They all have reasons to be proud of what they have done
and proud of themselves, irrespective of a problem of chance.”

(Additional reporting by Swaha Pattanaik, Brian Rohan,
Francois Murphy and Kerstin Gehmlich)