Marcello Lippi and Raymond Domenech had, of course, different reactions, but they accepted the result.

Marcello LIPPI (ITA)
The further we progressed in this tournament, the more realised we could win it. Our confidence grew from match to match, especially when we beat Germany in a stadium that couldn’t have been more perfect for them.

It was a special game, starting with that penalty, then an equaliser and a general drop in tension. We always had hope, even though we were up against great players. We stayed cool, and I would also like to thank the Italian supporters for their support. I’m a fan of Zidane, but the fourth official saw what happened. It’s bizarre to end your career like that, if it is the end of his career.

I knew if we scored our first penalty, we could score them all. Life hands you gifts sometimes and that’s how I think of (Fabio) Cannavaro, the best defender in the world, and (Gianluigi) Buffon, who caused (David) Trezeguet to miss his spot-kick. But I was sure we were going to win because the players were very motivated by the idea of taking penalties.

(Francesco) Totti was feeling the effects of playing 120 minutes against Germany and perhaps he didn’t recover in time. Now we’ll enjoy this fantastic moment and later on we’ll find out what’s going to happen in the Italian championship. How do I feel right now? I’m a world champion and I’ve never experienced that before.

Raymond DOMENECH (FRA)
It’s a huge disappointment. We prepared ourselves to be at our best, the team got stronger and that was all part of the plan. You could see that in how we were a notch above our opponents in extra-time. The players now have to remember what they’ve achieved.

(Zinedine) Zidane’s red card was one of the turning-points of the match, as was Vieira coming off (with an injury). We found ourselves with ten men at a time when we were controlling the game. As for the incident itself, the fourth official saw what happened and informed the referee. The assistant referee saw nothing. I don’t know what (Marco) Materazzi said, but he’s the Man of the Match, not (Andrea) Pirlo. It’s Materazzi who equalised and provoked Zidane’s sending-off. It’s sad, but I think the Italian player made a meal out of what happened.

Zidane would normally take one of the first penalties in a shoot-out but his not being there didn’t change much. I can’t fault the players, they did their best. Was it enough? No.

All I can think about now is the disappointment. My own future is not important at the moment. I’m sad for Zidane because he was always there for us during this competition. I’d have preferred substituting him five minutes before the end so he could have received a different ovation from the crowd to the one he got.

Source: WCoffsite