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Olympiastadion in Berlin, 69 thousand spectators Referee - Horacio Elizondo (Argentina) Italy 1 - 1 France (after extra time, penalty shootout 5-3) 7' [0 - 1] Zinedine Zidane (11m.) 19' [1 - 1] Marco Materazzi
In the sixth minute of the match, a dubious 11-meter penalty was awarded to Italy after Florent Malouda fell in the penalty area after he jumped past Marco Materazzi. Zinedine Zidane took the penalty kick, scoring and thereby scoring his 3rd goal in this championship with a head strike after Marco Materazzi headed the ball into Fabien Barthez's goal, equalizing the score and redeeming his defensive mistake.
Both teams successfully defended, and it was difficult for both teams to create dangerous attacks. In the 35th minute, Luca Toni almost scored after another corner kick, but his shot hit the crossbar. The hard-fought first half ended in a 1-1 draw.
France started the second half more actively and threatened the opponents' goal from the first minutes. In the 62nd minute, the Italian national team fans in the stadium erupted in joy - Luca Toni scored his 3rd goal in this championship with a header after a pass from Andrea Pirlo. However, the joy of the Italians was soon extinguished as the linesman ruled an offside and disallowed the Italian goal.
Despite this episode, the French continued to hold the initiative, but the Italian defenders and goalkeeper G. Buffon played confidently, so the second half and the main time of the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
France once again started the overtime more actively, and in the 104th minute, Z.Zidane made a very dangerous header towards the goal, but G.Buffon repelled the Frenchman's shot and once again proved that he was the best goalkeeper of the championship without a doubt.
At the beginning of the second half of the overtime, signs of fatigue and exhaustion appeared on the players' faces. After playing for 110 minutes, the nerves of France's captain Z. Zidane gave way - the Frenchman succumbed to M. Materazzi's provocation and headbutted him in the stomach. The referee Horacio Elizondo did not hesitate to show Zidane a red card after this episode and thus ended the career of one of the best world players of recent times earlier than expected.
Despite the fact that France was left with just ten men, they continued to press the opponents, but they failed to score, so it became clear that the strongest team in the world would be determined only after a penalty shootout.
The first penalty kicks from both teams were successful, but the second kick from David Trezeguet in the French team hit the crossbar, thus seemingly avenging the Italian team's fans for the "golden" goal that "killed" their supported team in the 2000 European Championship final.
After the missed French kick, the remaining attempts by both teams were successful, and the last shot by an Italian player, F. Grosso, who performed excellently in these championships, with a precise shot from the French team's goal sealed the victory for Italy in the penalty shootout 5-3 and secured them the World Cup gold.
Statistics Italy - France Possession 51% - 49% Shots 4 - 11 Shots on target 3 - 4 Yellow cards 1 - 3 Red cards 0 - 1 Offsides 4 - 2 Lost balls 67 - 60 Short passes 333 - 314 Corners 5 - 7 Fouls 17 - 25
