2. Euro 2000 – France’s Final Flourish
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If that wasn’t enough, the golden goal made another dramatic appearance in the very next tournament. Current France manager Didier Deschamps and his teammates had just won the World Cup on home soil in 1998 – could they repeat the trick on the continental stage? Again, a goal moments prior to the hour mark suggested they couldn’t. Marco Delvecchio smashed a goal past Barthez on the 55th minute to put the world champions in serious trouble. When the referee indicated that just 3 minutes of added time were to be played, the Italians must have almost tasted victory.
However, it wasn’t to be . Sylvain Wiltord scored in the 3rd minute on injury time, snatching 30 minutes from the dying few seconds with a desperate goal! When all had seemed impossible, the world champions had shown once again why they deserved to wear that tag. As the second half of extra-time beckoned, Arsenal hero Robert Pires sent a cut-back rolling towards David Trezeguet, who made no mistake with an 81kmph cannonball to win the match just seconds before the end of the 1st half of extra-time. The hosts of the Euro 2000 were crowned world champions to give hope to all future French generations – the 2016 one included!
