Saturday, July 8 2006 15:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hamlin: Willy Sagnol reckons Sunday's World Cup final between France and Italy is an evenly balanced affair apart from one crucial factor Zinedine Zidane.



"Italy's best player is the team itself because it's such a strong block which will cause us problems," the 29-year-old France defender told a press conference here on Friday.

"But I think Zinedine Zidane can tip the balance and we have Zidane and they don't," he said.

"He's got all the qualities of a natural leader, and along with Lilian (Thuram) and Fabian (Barthez) it's very enjoyable to follow in their footsteps," he said.

"We want to see them finish in the best possible way, we want them to finish on a high as that means it's not bad for the others either," added the Bayern Munich player.

Sagnol said he and his fellow Bleus were finding it hard to take on board the fact that they had made it through to Sunday's final.

"We know we're in the final but we can't appreciate its significance as we're too concentrated on the game and focused on our play and weighing up Italy's strengths and weaknesses," he said.

"It'll only be later that we can reflect back on what's happened, which is regrettable," he said.

He said that, like Italy, one of France's strongest qualities was the way all the players gelled together, forming what he will hope is an immoveable force against the Italians.

"Since we came together on May 21 we've done everything together, there are no cliques or breakaway groups. We've stuck together through the difficult times, like in the early matches, and the good moments," he said.

"That's helped us become stronger as a team and we're able to translate that feeling of unity onto the pitch," he said.

"After our first two draws, things weren't perfect but we all talked about it, everyone had different ideas of how we saw the situation and things improved," he said.

"As you can see from our last three games, we've found the key to the solution of our problems," he said.

"We've found a good formula and now it's up to us to continue with it for another 90 minutes," he said.

He emphasised the role Raymond Domenech as coach has played in guiding France to the Olympic Stadium.

"We've been lucky to have a coach that has had confidence in us, a coach that gave us the keys to do a good World Cup and that's what we're in the process of doing.," he said.

"He enabled us to fully express our talent and to reach our goal. "I sincerely hope that we win on Sunday so that players like Zidane get the reward they deserve," he said.

"Sagnol was then one of five first team players to be rested by Domenech for France's final training session at their World Cup headquarters in the nearby town of Aerzen, attended by a crowd of around 500," he said.

Sagnol, Fabian Barthez, Florent Malouda, Patrick Vieira and Eric Abidal went for a bicycle ride at the team's chateau residence instead.

The six who were present were put through a light programme lasting about an hour. France leave Aerzen for Berlin Saturday ahead of Sunday's date with Italy.