They were the glamour couple everyone had come to see. They had even made a film together which served as a trailer to this match. So they were always going to do their darnedest not to be upstaged when the big day finally came around. However, a first reading of the script at the Letzigrund Stadion might have pricked the ego of either of the two main players from FC Bayern München, the club once dubbed FC Hollywood by some in the German press.
'A' list
First the ignominy: eyes that should have been strained on the imminent arrival of the France and Italy teams strayed instead to the VIP section where Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria and her husband, French basketball export Tony Parker, were taking their seats. Parker is reportedly a close friend of Thierry Henry – and he seemed quite friendly with Roger Federer too as the match photographers seized the moment. By the fourth minute, though, all lenses were centred on a Group C game that both sides had to win. Azzurri forward Luca Toni, however, missed his opportunity. Eric Abidal, replacing Lilian Thuram in central defence, misjudged a routine header and on raced Toni, only to drag his shot wide of goal.
Not in the script
Then the injury: seven minutes in and it was game over already for Franck Ribéry. The winger who had been France's brightest spark at this tournament barged in to tackle Gianluca Zambrotta and injured himself in the ensuing tangle of legs. It was almost as if he had been trying too hard, but that is the kind of infectious character the 25-year-old Ribéry seems to be. His Bayern team-mate Toni, however, was back on the big screens when he won the penalty from which Andrea Pirlo put Italy in front. Stretching out a leg to bring under control a long Pirlo pass, he went down under the challenge of the hapless Abidal, who duly saw red. Toni himself nearly added a second with a conjuring trick of a shot from an Antonio Cassano cross but his flick sent the ball centimetres wide. A falling volley from Pirlo's chipped pass sailed wide, then he spurned another opening when clear on goal.
Trailer
It was not quite the shooting masterclass given by Ribéry and Toni in the pre-UEFA EURO 2008™ commercial trailing this match, which has been doing the rounds on the internet. There, Ribéry finds the back of the net from an exocet of a goal-kick that does not touch the ground. Next, in a game of one-upmanship, the pair unleash surface-to-goal missiles from the very back row of the top tier of Bayern's stadium. With Toni, 31, firing blanks in the absence of his stricken colleague, whose injury sadly appears long-term, there was no sign of the combination that had contributed 35 goals to Bayern's Bundesliga triumph, as well as two domestic cups. Hopefully little and large will be back in action in Bavaria before long.
No return
The sequel to the Italian victory here – which was embellished by Daniele De Rossi's deflected free-kick in the second half – is a Spain-Italy quarter-final in Vienna on Sunday. For France, though, the end credits are rolling. Ten years ago tomorrow, Les Bleus survived another sending-off, that of Zinédine Zidane, to beat Saudi Arabia 4-0 en route to FIFA World Cup glory. Now they look as desperate as Ms Longoria and company.
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