Goalkeeper by reputation, goalkeeper by nature. Dino Zoff could be a coach for the rest of his life but - to the generation who remember the legendary Azzurri sides - he will always be a goalkeeper.

Eccentricity on the field never comes as a surprise when it emanates from between the sticks but Zoff the manager has so far been predictable to the point of stoic.

On Sunday night, however, he reverted to his professional roots and allowed a teeny bit of madness to creep into his thinking. So mundane, the only surprise Italy had sprung before the Rotterdam final was actually getting there.

As overwhelming underdogs, the choice for Italy was stark. Stick doggedly to the catenaccio gameplan which had served them so well and hope to grind the world champions into penalties or ... spring a shock.

Zoff went for the goalkeeper's option.

He fielded Marco Delvecchio alongside his Roma teammate, Francesco Totti, in a partnership designed to win the game in 90 minutes.

In fact, they almost tied it up in five. Delvecchio looked a little slow off the mark in the second when he should have connected before Fabien Barthez cleared and then Fabio Cannavaro missed a free header.

It was scintillating stuff. Especially as those first exchanges had witnessed more of Italy as an attacking force in a few seconds than the whole tournament put together.

And then it stopped. From beneath his thick mop of lounge singer's hair, Zoff signalled his midfield to return to their own half and start singing the song that everyone knew the words to.

Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta, the silent assassins who don't need violin cases to threaten the opposition, were ordered to organise, but arguably the best performance of the night was that of Demetrio Albertini.

Speculation reined that he would be the man to take out Zinedine Zidane but he didn't. Instead, he was ordered and managed something much more devastating; he deprived the world's greatest player of the thing he needs most to thrive - space.

A player of Zizou's dexterity and imagination will always gain possession and his colleagues are so eager to feed off him that they will supply the ball.

What Albertini achieved was the thinking player's solution to an extremely taxing question.

Zidane is virtually impossible to man-mark because he will make you commit early and his close control spirits him away.

The AC Milan midfielder marked the space instead and forced Zidane deeper and deeper to collect where a killer pass is impossible to conjure.

Defensively, the performance was once again spectacular and all those who feared that negativity would ruin the spectacle of football are just not connoisseurs of brilliant tactics.

The choice of Delvecchio justified itself in dramatic fashion when he volleyed an opener - mostly due to Totti's dazzling back heel, it has to be said.

It was another heel, however, - the Achilles one - which saw the Italians concede their first goal in over five hours - just as Paolo Maldini dreamed of lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy.

In Italy - the home of opera and those singing fat ladies - you would have thought that they'd know better, but nine minutes later, that flaw was doubled.

Ironically, it was the man who had stifled France's most creative player for the entire match who gifted possession and effectively lost the championship.

Albertini passed to Robert Pires instead of clearing the line and the rest is now history. Zoff looked bewildered as he toured the pitch in search of the victory he thought he had clinched.

If only his moment of madness had lasted slightly longer his Italy might have reprised the glory he knew when he stood between the sticks.