Zinedine Zidane: Face of multi-cultural France and star of Les Bleus’ 1998 World Cup triumph

France versus Brazil was the final everyone wanted, including former Uefa president Platini who years later said “we did a bit of trickery” to avoid the teams being on the same side of the draw, and the players got a taste of the nation’s anticipation as they made their way to the stadium.

“What surprised me was the people in the street,” said Zidane. “Black, white, brown. I was in the bus, right at the back, I turned around and looked behind and there must have been more than 500 motorbikes following us. It was incredible, really incredible.”

While Zidane may have been his nation’s poster boy the Selecao had their own global superstar in Ronaldo, who had already scored four goals during the tournament.

Come matchday, however, rumours reached the French dressing room that the Inter Milan striker was unwell so would not feature.

“We were all convinced it was a ploy by the Brazilians to make us believe that Ronaldo wouldn’t be able to play,” explained Thuram. “We thought ‘no way, Ronaldo is playing the match, they are just making this up to try and fool us’.”

Ronaldo, it later emerged, had suffered from a convulsion earlier in the day. He woke up unaware of what happened, and after several tests and plenty of debate was given the green light to start for Mario Zagallo’s side.

“In games like this, small margins can make a difference – who knows, if Ronaldo had been at 100% of his abilities and feeling well, maybe Brazil would have won?” added Thuram.

The 21-year-old was nowhere near his best that evening in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis – and neither were Brazil. But Zidane was, producing his greatest display of the tournament when it mattered – the man who later that year would be crowned the world’s best player and Ballon d’Or winner.

France’s iconic blue jerseys danced between the resplendent yellow of Brazil. For the neutrals it was footballing nirvana. For the fans whose faces were painted with the Tricolore, it was ecstasy.

The rangy, supple frame of Zidane glided around the Stade de France, Predator Accelerators barely clipping the turf as he almost teed up Stephane Guivarc’h. And then, after 27 minutes, boom! The 6ft 1in playmaker rose above Leonardo to meet Emmanuel Petit’s in-swinging corner from the left and headed beyond goalkeeper Cláudio Taffarel to send the stadium delirious.

“This was something we had worked on beforehand,” said Thuram. “Jacquet coached us that Brazil were very weak at defending corners and we will have a really good chance to score if we get the delivery right.”

Zidane jumped on to the advertising hoardings with his arms aloft before anchoring down on the other side and punching the air like he’d just won a gruelling rally across town at Roland Garros.

Nineteen minutes later, in first-half stoppage time, it was Brazil’s combative captain Dunga sent sprawling to the ground by Zizou’s ferocious strength and desire to reach Youri Djorkaeff’s corner whipped in from the right.

Again the Frenchman got his head to the ball, sending a whistling effort through the legs of Roberto Carlos at the front post and into the net to double the hosts’ lead. This time he walked away kissing his France shirt.

“To have Zinedine Zidane in our side performing so well was obviously incredibly important for us,” captain Didier Deschamps told Fifa. “He was a decisive player. Big players always make the difference in big matches.”