This life-and-death matchup between Italy and France, in a way, can also be regarded as a supplementary match for the final of the World Cup in Germany in the previous life.

Because of the emergence of the variable Degan, the protagonists of the German World Cup final became Italy and Belgium, Zidane's golden head did not turn over the stinky Materazzi, which made a grudge between the two people less, but buried Digan's left leg and made Belgium lose the final.

Now in the group stage of the European Championship, the two teams that were supposed to stage a summit showdown at the World Cup in Germany have shifted the battlefield to the European Championship.

Before the game, the heavy rain suddenly came, pouring down, for this tragic life-and-death battle to perform the best prelude, more magical than the heavy rain, is the unexpected appearance of two rainbows, across the Zurich stadium sky, attracting countless clicks.

As night fell, the rainbow faded, and the two declining aristocrats had been reduced to watching other people's faces and stealing their lives, Albertini appeared on the rostrum to cheer up his brother Donadoni, who looked more like a diplomat in a straight suit, shuttling among the senior officials of FIFA and UEFA.

In this game, Cannavaro and Materazzi could only sit on the bench and do a hurry, after the start of the life-and-death battle, every time the ball went out of bounds, they were always the first to rush out to "pick up the ball", Cannavaro even limped, he seemed to hope to use this way to encourage his teammates not to give up.

After the start of this life-and-death duel, the scene seemed to be less exciting, but more than intense, the off-ball confrontation between the players on both sides appeared frequently, and they all wanted to overwhelm each other in momentum, Abidal walked past the Italian bench after being sent off, and scolded the Italians fiercely, Materazzi took the lead to fight back, but was pulled by his teammates.

It was perhaps Dutchman Huntelaar who decided the game, and his goal was passed to the Italian bench early, and a pass of 10, 10 to 100 became a well-known secret for Italian fans, and cheerful singing immediately replaced shrill boos.

Everyone knows that this is not an aristocratic show in pursuit of the scene, but a battle for survival begging for results, and then Van Persie scored on another field, which was once misreported as a Romanian goal, and the stands were in a commotion, until the big screen of the stadium played the words 2:0 in the Netherlands, and the French completely lost interest and left the stadium.

Gattuso, who was finally replaced, roared excitedly, opened all the mineral water bottles, poured them on the heads of every teammate on the bench, and at the final whistle, he was the first to run in front of Donadoni, clinging to the manager's somewhat curly hair and pulling it violently, completely ignoring the way of teachers and students.

The rainbow of 2006 seemed to be back, and the Italians celebrated like they had won the world championship, but at this moment, everyone had an extra look of the aftermath of the disaster.

Finally, on this night of life and death, the light of miracle shined on Italy, and the Azzurri returned from the border of death, thanks to the great spirit of fair play of the Dutch team, but of course the Italians were proud of their indomitable spirit.

What made the Italians even happier was that the core of the midfield, Andrea Pirlo, was also "resurrected" in this game, and it was his excellent performance in the first half that opened the door to victory for Italy.

In fact, since the World Cup in Germany, Pirlo has not been able to regain his best form for a long time, and although he is still indispensable to his team, he has never been the high-speed midfield brain.

After the start of this European Championship, Pirlo continued his recent slump, and his performance in the first two group games can only be described as mediocre.

Although Pirlo was named the best of the match against Romania in the last game, in fact many pundits were unhappy with Pirlo's performance, believing that he was one of the culprits of Italy's winless streak, and there was even a theory that Donadoni would abandon Pirlo before the do-or-die battle against France.

Pirlo himself is not worried about this statement: "The coach decides who will play, but I am sure he will choose me. ”

Pirlo was very confident, and it turned out that Donadoni did not dare to give up on Pirlo, and in the most crucial game, Pirlo finally repaid the coach and all the Italian fans.

Pirlo's precise and effective command reappeared in the game, which he had not seen in the last two games, and before Pirlo was substituted, he created a number of chances for his team-mates, and Panucci almost headed into the net from a Pirlo corner shortly after the break.

The best scene came in the 200,000th minute of the game, when Andrea Pirlo delivered a pinpoint long pass near the centre circle, Toni was tripped behind by Abidal after stopping the ball in the box, and the referee blew for a penalty and sent Abidal off for a red card, which was an absolute fatal blow that allowed Italy to take the lead and also occupy the numerical advantage.

It was Andrea Pirlo who scored the penalty for Italy, with the AC Milan midfielder calmly kicking the ball into the top left corner of the net, and French goalkeeper Coupe could only sigh despite his hard save.

Three minutes later, it was Andrea Pirlo who sent the ball over the top, creating an opportunity for Toni to face the goalkeeper directly, and almost sealed the victory for Italy in advance, but it was a pity that Toney's kick on the goal was a fraction of a second.

There is no doubt that it was Andrea Pirlo who saw the loopholes in France's transition to centre-back, and resolutely attacked the gaps in France's midfield, quickly laying the foundation for Italy's victory.

If it weren't for Toney's bad luck today, Italy could have scored at least two or three goals in the first half, although on the whole, Pirlo has not fully recovered to his peak form, but a "not bad" Pirlo is enough to make Italy cheer.

However, Pirlo also had regrets in today's game, as France insisted on counter-attacking when Perrotta was injured before the end of the first half, instead of kicking the ball off the touchline, Pirlo stepped forward for his team-mates and tackled Benzema from behind.

Although Pirlo's move showed the unity of Italy, Pirlo, who was already carrying a yellow card, was once again carded because of this action and will miss the quarter-finals because of the accumulation of two yellow cards.

It was a very big blow for the Italians, and as Sport Milan said, Andrea Pirlo was the only irreplaceable man in Italy, and today's victory over France proved that once again.

But Pirlo has no regrets about it, and when it comes to the next game, Pirlo has confidence in his team-mates: "We have a lot of good players, such as De Rossi, Ambrosini, Montolivo and Perrotta, and I am convinced that we can go further. ”

In the face of life and death, this time the Italian team was finally favored by the goddess of luck, not so much that the game was fought by the Italians, but that it was given by the French, there were too many problems in this game, first Ribery was injured, and then Abidal gave Italy a penalty, and was sent off with a red card, most of the time can only play with ten people, the Italians have to do just seize the opportunity, and then win.

Donadoni admitted after the game that Italy had good luck today, but he also thanked his old friend Basten that the Netherlands beat Romania 2-0 to keep Italy in the tournament.

Italy played 3 group games, 1 loss, 1 draw and 1 win, in terms of results, step by step, Donadoni praised the players: "For a long time today, we were 11 to 10. The players were still a little nervous at the key moments, but overall they were good today and I'm happy with the score. ”

Before the battle between Italy and France, the Italian media were complaining about the team's bad luck, and against France, Italy finally rejected Tai, and Donadoni also admitted that the team had good luck today: "Italy's luck was not so bad, after taking 1-0, we got a lot of chances, and when De Rossi took the free-kick, the good luck finally came. ”

Italy was able to qualify, the Netherlands contributed a lot, the Dutch second team defeated Romania 2-0, Donadoni naturally remembered to thank Basten: "Before the game, a lot of people asked me if I called Basten, it's ridiculous, I understand Basten's character, I never doubted that the Dutch players will give their best in the last game. ”

However, while the Italian players were frantically celebrating the victory, there was one person who seemed very frustrated, and that was Toney, and although his penalty was a key to Italy's qualification, personally, his performance against France was undoubtedly a failure.

Creating penalties and squandering a bunch of chances, that's Toney.

Can't score goals, in fact, the responsibility is not entirely on Tony alone, his current situation on the field, can be said to be isolated, in the front line, except for Toney, there is no other player to share the pressure for him.

When attacking, I hit Tony again and again, in addition to passing Tony, or passing Tony. Think about it, which team will Italy play against, and the opponent will not send a few defenders to defend Tony closely?

No matter how tough Tony is, after all, he only has two legs and a head, how can he shoot comfortably between the opponent's seven or eight thick thighs and three or four jumping heads?

But is Italy really in such a difficult situation that no one can use it?

Of course not!

For example, Pazzini, who retained the hope of promotion for Italy in the second game, unfortunately after becoming the hero of the team, he was once again forgotten on the bench by Donadoni in this game.

He sat for 90 minutes and then celebrated with his teammates.

In this European Cup, Fiorentina is the team that has contributed the most players to the Italian team, Maggio, Antonini, Abate, Montolivo, Ledesma, Motta, Paccini, a total of seven players, accounting for almost a third of the Italian team.

However, at the end of the three games in the group stage, only Montolivo, Pacini and Motta got the opportunity to play, Montolivo and Pazzini were reused, but Motta could only show his face in garbage time when he played against the Netherlands, only touched football once, and then had to taste the bitter fruit of defeat with his teammates.

Even Fiorentina coach Prandelli was very unhappy with this: "I don't understand at all why Mr. Donadoni is bringing my players to the European Championship, is it just to make them spectators? My players are the best and last season's treble says it all, but in Mr. Donadoni's eyes, they are a bad thing. ”

Prandelli couldn't help complaining, Fiorentina's other players who were selected for the national team, Frei was the main player in the first two games of the group, and it was only in the last game of life and death against Italy that he was replaced by Kupe.

Ujfarouch was also the absolute heart of the Czech backline, and although the Czech team were eliminated from the group, his performance was recognised.

Not to mention Kompany, the absolute workhorse of Belgium and no one can take his place.

Although Marchena was a substitute, he also got the opportunity to come off the bench against Russia and played a regular role in the game against Greece.

Luka Modric was the absolute heart of Croatia, starting all three group games and scoring as well.

Mutu is also Romania's number one player.

However, it is strange that Donadoni has turned a blind eye to the members of the Treble.

However, fortunately, in the end, the goddess of victory still favored the handsome guys in Italy, allowing them to qualify from the group, and lost to the Italian team 0:2, and the French team after the European Cup was eliminated, they could only leave sadly.

Just after the loss, French midfielder Makelele immediately announced that he would retire from the national team, in addition, Thuram also expressed the idea of retiring.

'This is the last time I will play for France,' said the 35-year-old Chelsea defender, who said the 71st appearance for France against Italy, a figure that will not be updated in the future.

In his last match for France, he played the whole game as he did most of the time, doing his best, but unfortunately could not save the French team.

Makelele is regarded as the best defensive midfielder in the world, with his ability to run, cover a large area, a fierce one-on-one but reasonable technique, and a strong ability to control passes, and can launch attacks after a midfield steal, which is a textbook in the midfield position.

However, as he got older, his physical fitness inevitably declined, and it became more and more difficult to take on the responsibility of the back in the international arena, so he reluctantly chose to quit.

Unfortunately, he has played for France for many years and has never won a major tournament, which will be his lifelong regret.

After the 2-0 defeat to Italy in the European Championship, Makelele said: "I didn't win a trophy for France, but to be able to wear the blue shirt and represent France is my greatest honour. ”

Shortly after Makelele announced his retirement, Thuram, who has played 142 games for France and is the most played international for his country, also said that this will be his last game for France.

Thuram is a decorated player of the French team, who won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship for the French team, and is a witness to the glory of the French team, and his exit is even more embarrassing than Makelele, and an era of the Gallic Army is over.

In fact, after the defeat of the French team, these two may not be the only ones who will withdraw from the national team. Even before the start of the tournament, Thierry Henry had expressed his intention to retire from the national team after the European Championships.

Perhaps soon, Henry will follow in the footsteps of Claude Makelele and Thuram, while defender Patrick Vieira and goalkeeper Coopey have also been selected by the French media to retire from the national team.

The retirement of many veterans, in the final analysis, is still disappointed in the team's performance, which can be said to have reached the point of discouragement and contradictions with the head coach.

In fact, not only the players, but also the French media and fans mostly believe that the French team's performance in the European Championship without any bright spots is completely attributed to Domenech's fickle tactics, and the team members are also complaining, and in the battle with Italy, the main defender Thuram is not in the starting lineup, internal sources from the French national team revealed that Thuram took the initiative to propose to Domenech before the game, and he was extremely disappointed with the performance of the French team. took the initiative to withdraw from this life-and-death battle.

The loss of the main force at the back led to Abidal's hasty entry into the game against Italy, and the facts of the game proved Domenech's fatal trick, knowing that Abidal had never played as a centre-back, and in his new position, and against the fierce rivals of Italy, Abidal appeared unconvinced, and the red card inevitably happened in this context.

It is an indisputable fact that France are not without Thuram's stand-in, with Boumson being a traditional centre-back, but Domenech has turned a blind eye and paid a heavy price for his exit.

Although Domenech's contract with the French Football Federation will not end until 2010, it is certain that with the humiliating end of the French team in this European Cup, the fate of Domenech's resignation has been revealed, and the French team, which has staged countless championships in world football, will also set off a revolution of renewal, Makelele, Thuram, and even Henry will definitely leave the national team, because of Domenech's low-level tactical mistakes, the golden generation of the Gallic rooster said goodbye to international football with such an ending, It's embarrassing.

The battle for the group of death was over, but it was a very good game to be admired, not just because of the nine points and nine goals, but because he found a way to revive Dutch football.

Donadoni and the Italians are also admirable for their perseverance, despite their poor play, and despite the fact that they relied on Mutu's mistakes to make it through Romania's slump, but note that historically, the Italians have mostly started to get into form from the second stage of the competition.

This game, which is defined as a battle of life and death, can be said to have no competitive reference value, the only thing that can be defined is that the French team is far from the world's top level, and they need a new Zidane, a new concept.