“Lifting the trophy takes you somewhere else. In my head, that moment belonged to Beckenbauer, Pelé, Maradona. And then I was there, holding the same trophy in my hands. You feel like the king of the world, right down to your bones. The history of football is suddenly all around you, and you understand the scale of what you have just achieved.”
When did you realise you had won the final, and what went through your mind?
I don’t think I truly realised it until the last goal, Manu’s [Emmanuel Petit, in the 90th minute]. To be honest, there was a moment of real panic when Marcel Desailly was sent off. We had been completely in control, 2-0 up, but everything can change so quickly. They score once and suddenly the whole game opens up again. You know you could end up defending for your lives.
Then Manu scored the third… unbelievable. We were World Champions. There were still four or five minutes to play. It was an incredible feeling.
Those final minutes are strange because you are part of them and outside them at the same time. We knew it was over. We were World Champions. But we were still on the pitch, still involved in the game. You have those few minutes to let it really sink in. That feeling is something else.
What did you do at the final whistle?
I dropped to my knees on the pitch, completely alone in that moment. I thought about everything I had been through, especially the long recovery from an injury eighteen months earlier. It had been difficult. That was what it had all been leading towards. A World Cup, at home.
I understood very quickly what it meant. That final was ours. The days afterwards were a blur. We were taken everywhere for three days, one celebration after another, and we never really had the chance to enjoy it just among ourselves.
But there on the grass, in that moment, it was mine. It was ours. And it was unbelievable.
What did you feel as you walked up to lift the trophy?
It was a special moment because my father was there, in the presidential box. To lift the trophy, you walk directly in front of that stand. We were missing one ticket, but just before kick-off we managed to find one there, so he was able to be there.
As I climbed the steps, I saw him. We looked at each other. It was incredibly intense. I had never seen him like that before, completely overcome with emotion. I will never forget it.
In that moment, looking at him, I understood what we had done. It was something beyond anything we could have imagined. Winning the World Cup is the most beautiful thing in football.