On the dark stone slopes of Hitler's stadium the flashbulbs popped and a heedless generation sang Que Sera Sera as they waited for extra time to begin. Then all hell broke loose, writes Tom Humphries in Berlin
This was to be the game that put history to rights. In the stadium where Jesse Owens dealt with racism 70 years ago, the issue rumbled on last night as Italy won the World Cup for the fourth time and the first time since 1982.
The story though was Zinedine Zidane, whose personal journey in this campaign has been from superstardom to comic book superhero to villain/martyr. Deep into extra time last night Zidane tussled innocuously with Marco Materazzi, the Italian defender. Some words were exchanged. Zidane trotted ahead of Materazzi, eyed him up and stepped forward, delivering an astonishing headbutt into the Italian's chest.
The implication immediately was that there had been racist words exchanged. A French Algerian, Zidane is descended from the nomadic Kabyle tribe of north Africa and has fronted anti-racism campaigns in his native France.
The stadium was a cacophony of whistles and jeers as an Italian team who had been thoroughly outplayed went on to record their first success in a World Cup penalty shoot-out. That the game went such a distance is surprising. That it should have ended in such drama, violence and acrimony is shocking. For Zidane, aepic career ends on the lowest possible note while a fine tournament ends in controversy and a victory for Italian defiance.