France – F. Barthez: “For the next matches, we have to win before extra time and above all, before penalties”

Statements collected from Clairefontaine, Saturday 4 July (South-West of PARIS)

Fabien BARTHEZ (Goalkeeper – 16)

“Yesterday, we played well, but the toughest is yet to come in the semi-final. Between GERMANY and CROATIA, I have no preference. The Germans are more rigorous, and they stick it out to the bitter end. whereas the Croatians have a good attack. With ITALY we expected a different sort of match. As a keeper, one has to be vigilant. The final score sheet can rest us assured. FRANCE has the best defensive arrangement in the competition. It isn’t just up to DESAILLY (8), but to all the players. On the field, even if I sometimes have a relaxed air about me, I feel the same pressure as the others, but I handle it differently. During the penalty shoot-out, I was concentrating on cutting myself off from everything around me. When LIZARAZU (3) missed his shot, I told myself that I have no room to make mistakes. After the match, I didn’t go and see DI BIAGIO (14), I preferred to stay with LIZARAZU. He shouldn’t keep worrying about the shot he missed, sometimes you miss a penalty. That said, for the next matches, we have to win before extra time and above all, before penalties.”

Zinedine ZIDANE (10)

“Physically I started to show my fatigue but I am happy to be back. ITALY disappointed me because they are very strong defensively, and have some very good attacking players. But they did not display a good performance last night. We, however, had to take on this defensive bloc and in spite of all managed to create some chances. It is true that it would have been nice to score at least one goal, but we won anyway. I have confidence in the efficiency and quality of the FRANCE team for the rest of the competition. We scored a lot of goals during the first round, and it is true that we don’t seem to be getting them in at the moment, but we are winning and that is what counts. Personally, I am satisfied with my performance. I felt a bit rough towards the end of the match, especially during extra time, but I’m a sticker.”