Italy win after Zidane sees red.
In all of our heads the script was written.
It was to be the year of the wily old fox. He was to retire in triumph holding the world cup aloft, having been brought out of retirement to fulfil that very task.
When France were given a very cheap penalty after only seven minutes, he almost missed it by chipping the ball in off the bar, but it mattered not a jot. It went in, and that's all any of us cared about.
Zinedine Zidane was still appealing to the hopeless romantic in all of us. By scoring he became only the fourth player in history to score in two world cup finals after Brazilians Vava and Pele and Germany's Paul Breitner.
Italy equalised, but the French spent the second half applying all of the pressure and always looking like the most likely team to score. Indeed, despite the advanced age of some of their squad they spent most of the second half looking by far the better team.
And then...
It's horrific that career's can be defined by moment's of madness, but with ten minutes of extra time left, Zidane ripped up the script in all of our heads and head butted Materazzi in the chest, leaving the referee with no choice other than to dismiss him.
A man who has given us a lifetime of memories of sublime football left the field, and his career in the game that he loved, with his reputation tarnished.
No-one will ever forget how Zidane's career ended. Which, for a man who was such a poetic master of subtle play, is a shame.
Italy went on to win, by virtue of a penalty shoot out, their fourth world cup victory - only one victory behind their greatest rivals Brazil.
But the game will be remembered for one moment of madness. Zidane is a man of few words, who even his team mates claim not to know well, so we may never be told what, if anything, Materazzi said to him to cause such an outburst.
But we will never forget the manner of his leaving. An exit from the world stage that went against everything that his career has represented. The man was a poet, an artisan, a skilled craftsman.
Perhaps now he should reconsider his decision to retire. A career of such beauty should not be allowed to end on such a sour note.
UPDATE!
Despite all of the above Zidane has just been given the Golden Ball award as the world's best player, although it appears most of the votes were cast before Zidane was sent off."The vast majority of those votes were cast by journalists before the final was over and that I'm sure is why Zidane has come out top," Farquhar told BBC Radio Five Live.
"But it's going to be a bit embarrassing for Fifa - the man who got sent off in the final for a completely unacceptable foul against another player is the guy who's been chosen by journalists as the man of the tournament.
"The reason the journalists voted for Zidane was this great emotional thing - everybody knew it was his last tournament and the final was his last game of football ever - but most people were dumbfounded to see what he did on Sunday.
As I said above, the script was written. What a shame Zidane didn't play to it.
Read about the award here.
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