France woke up with the bitter taste of defeat yesterday after their 5-3 loss on penalties to Italy in the World Cup final, but the question on everyone's lips was: "Why did Zinedine Zidane do it?"
In his last game for his country, the French captain and midfield genius was sent off for headbutting an opponent in the chest, an ignominious end to a glorious career which ensured he missed the penalty shootout that decided the game after the score was 1-1 at the end of extra time.
Italy held their nerve to run out 5-3 winners.
"The blue angel turned into a devil," the Le Parisien daily said of France's favorite soccer player.
The paper nevertheless ran a "Thank You" headline on its front page in tribute to the achievement of the unfancied national side that reached their second final in eight years despite being largely written off as too old.
Liberation's frontpage saw the result as "Cruel," while the Le Figaro daily lamented the "Broken Dream of Les Bleus."
But the country's top sports paper, L'Equipe, roasted Zidane in an editorial by Claude Droussent, who said Zidane's "stupid" assault on Italy defender Marco Materazzi was hard to forgive.
"Zinedine, you know, the hardest thing this morning is not to try and understand why Les Bleus, your Bleus, lost the World Cup final last night.
"But to explain to tens of millions around the world how you could have let yourself go and headbutt Marco Materazzi, 10 minutes from the end of extra-time.
"What should we tell our children and all those for whom you have become an example for ever?" he asked, concluding: "How could that happen to a man like you?"
Zidane has yet to explain his action but his teammates, who have refused to divulge what was said to Zidane by Materazzi, praised the contribution of a player lauded as the best of his generation.
"All I want to say to `Zizou,' and I think France should say it and the world of football ... is `thank you,' and `thank you.' That's it," France striker Thierry Henry said, using the affectionate nickname by which Zidane is known.
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