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For many years the situation has changed and it is now the opposite, the French team has not lost a single game against Italy (5 wins and one draw). Several games remain in the memory of football fans and have put their mark on the World Cup and of the European Football Championship . Among them, the 2000 European Championship , won by France with Golden Goal by David Trézéguet , and the World Cup 1998 when the French Team narrowly beat Italy in the quarter-finals after penalties (4-3). GAMES
WORLD CUP 1998 Among the many confrontations between the French and Italian teams, the quarter-final played during the World Cup 1998 was of special importance as it meant for both teams a possible qualification to the semi-finals of a World Cup, a performance by itself. But in addition France had a special incentive to win as for the first time in many years (since 1986 ) it could play a significant role in a World cup, and to do that as the host of the competition in front of all its supporters. Italy traditionally performs well during World Cups (winner in 1982 , third place in 1990 and runner-up in 1994 ) and expected to beat the local team in order to reach one more time the semi-finals, and possibly more... As can be seen in the previous section, for many years Italy won most of their matches against France, but the situation started to change in the 80’s and this World Cup would indicate which team was dominant in the 90’s. This match was also of particular importance to the players of both teams as many were competing in the same clubs in the Italian Serie A . They had good reasons to prove to their teammates that they were doing better on the international scene. Many French footballers played in the Calcio (Italian championship) at that time: Zinedine Zidane ( Juventus F.C. ), Didier Deschamps ( Juventus F.C. ), Marcel Desailly ( A.C. Milan ), Youri Djorkaeff ( Internazionale Milano F.C. ), Lilian Thuram ( Parma F.C. ), Vincent Candela ( A.S. Roma ), Alain Boghossian ( Parma F.C. ), others like Laurent Blanc had played before in Italy ( Napoli Soccer ). Obviously there strong connections between the players of both teams and they had something to prove, in addition to having the opportunity to reach another important step in the competition. The match was of good quality but ended after extra time with a draw 0 – 0, both teams having opportunities to win in open play. The result of the match had to be decided by a nerve-racking penalty shootout. In that exercice the French team performed better (4-3), the shoot-out was stopped when the last Italian player, Luigi Di Biagio , failed to score ( Bixente Lizarazu (France) and Demetrio Albertini (Italy) also failed before, but without effect on the final outcome). Among the images that one can remember from this , one showed David Trézéguet hiding his head in the shirt of teammate Thierry Henry , waiting for Di Biaggio to shoot, and later on some French players trying to console their Italian teammates, but obviously happy with the result. Two years later the French team confirmed a certain supremacy at that time, it was during the 2000 European Championship , but that is another story. Penalty Shoot-out
STATISTICS Overall Since 1982 |
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