Vive la France e vive l'Italie. When it comes to football, you can never trust the Italians to do the decent thing. Watching the "Azzurri" go out to "Les Bleus", thanks to an extra-time "golden goal" in last night's Euro 2000 final, one could only conclude they simply would not stick to the script as defined by tournament organisers UEFA.
The final that everyone (except for 56 million Italians) had envisaged last night would have seen hosts the Netherlands, taking on world champions France.
It would have been a glittering clash between two of the most technically flamboyant international sides in the world. Instead, the Italians had the bad manners to dispatch the host country from the tournament in that Amsterdam penalty shoot-out last Thursday.
Now, here they were at it again, threatening to send old "Zizou" Zidane and friends home with only runners-up medals to show for having been arguably the best side in the tournament. Vive l'Italie.
Meanwhile, proving for once and for all that Dutch enthusiasm for Euro 2000 was based more on the national urge to have a three-week party than on the qualities of the Netherlands' football team, the Dutch last night actually encouraged the Italians by playing one of their favourite tunes, Volare, over the public address system.
The French fans, for their part, rather than lose heart at the sight of this fraternising among the opposing fans, stuck to their guns or, should one say, to their Marseillaise.
Having been out-sung and outshouted by the Italian fans, the French finally found their voice after Sylvain Wiltord's injurytime equaliser.
From that moment on, the eerie semi-silence of the Italian fans told it all. The French were about to strike. David Trezeguet made it happen. Even the rebellious Italians were finally going to stick to the UEFA script.