A French soccer legend got a hero's-welcome-home today whether he deserved it or not. Zinedine Zidane and his teammates-the World Cup runners-up, made a brief appearance in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac before a flag-waving crowd. Chirac told Zidane he is, quote "a virtuoso¹, a genius of world football". But in yesterday's World Cup final, Zidane's behavior was less than brilliant. He delivered the most memorable² moment when he head-butted an Italian player. The French star was thrown out of the game. It was his last match before retirement³. France lost to Italy on penalty kicks. So, how was France responding to the disgrace of its star in the World Cup final? Francois Picard is website news director for Eurosport, that's a cable sports channel.

--Hello, Monsieur Pickard, thanks for joining us.
--Hello, Michele.

--What a way to go out?
--Oh, it was, it was incredible because Zidane was in the same game both sublime⁴ and then this inexplicable⁵ gesture in extra time. I don't think anybody here understands exactly why he snapped.

--And, just you know, for those who didn't see it on television, perhaps you could ~ur~ recreate that moment for us, tell us what happened?
--Okay, they're playing the Italians in the final. The Italians dominate the first half, but then, but Zidane scores on a penalty. And so it's Zidane who puts them in the lead. The Italians equalize. The match goes to extra time. And we're in the 110th minute, and after (it) what seems like a harmless play behind the goal, Italy defender⁶ Marco Materazzi says something to him and Zidane turns around, and head-butts him in the chest.

--What was amazing about this is he, he took two steps and then he turned around?
--Yeah, it's, what's amazing is that he is a 34 year-old veteran who has seen it all and done it all. Now, usually people who get wound-up by what they call in NBA trash-talking are, you know, 20-year-olds or people who are more hotheaded and here, em. it's just incredible that whatever Materazzi said, now, Zidane played in Italy before, so he speaks Italian. But whatever he said to him, that Zidane would snap at that particular moment.

--Lots of speculation⁷ today about what he might have said.
--Yeah, the word that's going around and Materazzi has denied it is that he called him an Arab terrorist. I mean, I~until Zidane speaks and he's promised to do so in the coming days, we won't know for sure.

--Now it seems that the fans and President Chirac were pretty kind to Zidane when he returned home to Paris.
--The fans were in a state of shock this morning. It was quite a come down after reaching the final of the World Cup. France is a country where, you know, there's a lot of bad news these days, you know, with high unemployment, we said no to the European Constitution, and football was a reason to cheer and to reach the final and inexplicably⁸ to have their hero in one minute turn into a villain⁹. Afterwards ,um,we still had several thousand people, more than 10 thousand who showed up in Paris's Plaza¹⁰ de Concord¹¹ to greet the team and to,and to say "thank you" to Zidane for his career.

--What were the headlines like in the papers today?
--Well, that's, when it comes to Zidane, the French press has trouble criticizing him. So~the~ the headlines were circumspect¹². You have to understand that Zidane is somebody from a working-class neighborhood of Marseilles, the son of Algerian immigrants, and who's soft-spoken and elegant and graceful¹³ and a model figure because of the way he plays and the way he~he carries himself, it's a gesture that's completely out of character.

--Francois Picard, thanks so much for talking to us.
--Thank you.

Francois Picard is website news director for Eurosport, that's a cable sports......