Azzurri find redemption from the penalty spot

It came down, in the end, to no more than a foot. As David Trezeguet's penalty crashed down off the bar, it landed on the line, not behind it, and so, by means of a shoot-out, Italy won the World Cup for a fourth time. Trezeguet, inevitably, will endure the anguish of that memory, but the real ignominy belonged to Zinedine Zidane, sent off for a butt on Marco Materazzi when France were in control.

Italians will see redemption as they face up to the darkest hour in their country's recent football history. They should learn the result of a match-fixing inquiry later today, and it is likely to be damning, but as Fabio Cannavaro, on the occasion of his 100th appearance for the Azzurri, lifted the gold trophy amid a blizzard of sliver confetti, there could at least be hope of a new age.

Others, though, will consider this the final the tournament deserved, absorbing rather than gripping, and dominated by the shadow of an almighty red card.

It seemed nothing more than a mundane penalty-box spat when the two goalscorers squared up shortly after half-time in extra-time, but as they walked away, the Italian kept on talking, evidently riling Zidane to the point that he turned, and, quite deliberately, thrust his head into Materazzi's chest, the blow spotted only by the fourth official.

And so, with a poignant slowness and the hint of tears, France's greatest player walked off the pitch, down the tunnel, and out of football, the fourth player sent off in a World Cup final. If only this toughest of playmakers, this most graceful of hard-men, could have exited earlier, when his achievement was a rather more welcome fourth, as he converted a seventh-minute penalty to follow Vava, Pelé and Paul Breitner in scoring in two finals.

As if in a mocking prefiguration of Trezeguet's later miss, Zidane's dinked kick hit the bar, bounced down over the line and up onto the bar again - what Germans, recalling Geoff Hurst's second goal in the 1966 final call 'ein Wembleytor'.

This time, though, with about a foot of grass showing between the ball and the back of the line, the only doubt was whether Materazzi had actually made contact with Florent Malouda as the Lyon winger hurtled past his clumsy challenge.

Some sort of cumulative justice was done as Malouda was denied what appeared a much clearer penalty eight minutes into the second half as he was brought to ground by Gianluca Zambrotta's lunge.

Italy's response came largely through corners, but what corners, Andrea Pirlo - whose perpetual tidiness earned him a third man-of-the-match award in seven games - looping the ball up to hang over the six-yard line where the big men could attack it like dolphins leaping for fish.

Materazzi got above Patrick Vieira to atone for his clumsiness with a thumping header after 19 minutes, and would have enacted a repeat nine minutes later but for the intervention of Lilian Thuram. Only the crossbar then denied Luca Toni as he met another right-wing delivery.

It was France, though, who took charge in second half.

Thierry Henry, whose inability to score in finals becomes an ever-bigger albatross, shimmered briefly after half-time, Malouda's surges were a constant danger, and, five minutes before his dismissal, Zidane drew Buffon into an athletic tip-over with a the sort of twisting header that brought him two goals against Brazil in the 1998 final. Another foot to the left, and even the Juventus goalkeeper would not have reached it.

Zidane's legacy could have been wholly different - he might be best advised, though, not to talk to Trezeguet about the agony of margins.