PARIS, July 10: The French press found it difficult on Monday to forgive Zinedine Zidane for his red-card exit in the World Cup final, bemoaning the ‘cruel’ fate they said had cost them a win.

‘The Blues' broken dream,’ headlined the Figaro daily in a merciless editorial, saying Zidane's “final and odious headbutt” had tarnished the final match of a ‘magical’ player.

“We were left speechless by such stupidity,” the paper wrote — though it said it had to “thank Zinedine Zidane all the same for all the kicks of pure beauty he has given us with Les Bleus.”

Most papers were torn between shock and disbelief at Zidane's outburst — and gratitude both for France's soaring performance over the past three weeks and for Zidane's own inspirational career.

“Bravo all the same,” wrote L'Humanite.

“Thank you!” blared the front page of Le Parisien. But the paper could not contain its bitterness at the dashed hopes of the French squad, and Zidane's fateful outburst.

“The hardest thing is not to try to understand why Les Bleus lost a World Cup final match that was within reach,” the sports daily L'Equipe wrote, but “to explain to tens of millions of children around the world how you allowed yourself to headbutt Marco Materazzi.”—AFP