Golden boy Trezeguet relives France's 2000 glory

In the brief era of the golden goal, two men were fortunate enough to win a UEFA European Championship final by that method – Oliver Bierhoff and David Trezeguet. After the Frenchman announced his retirement aged 37 on Monday, we focus on his crowning achievement as the striker himself turns back the clock to UEFA EURO 2000.

Memories of UEFA EURO 2000 ...
Personally, my memories have to start with the final against Italy because I had the good fortune to score an important goal. But the tournament as a whole was played at a very high standard and I have to say the organisation was very good in the Netherlands and Belgium. We knew we had a chance of winning the competition and things went very well for us in terms of the football we played. We were well set up from the point of view of preparation and training so we were very pleased to win the competition.

France's tough route to the final ...
There were three key matches. The first was the opener against Denmark because we recognised the importance of making a winning start. Then the semi-final against Portugal proved to be fairly difficult – we won it thanks to a penalty. And then the final against Italy that was played with a lot of intensity and proved to be very difficult. Fortunately, we found a way of winning those key matches.

The final ...
It was a very tough game. The Italians scored first and we soon realised they were going to be very hard to beat. They were tactically very disciplined, like all their teams are in the Italian championship. Our coach, Roger Lemerre, ended the game with four attackers and we had the chance to equalise in the 94th minute [through Sylvain Wiltord] and score the golden goal during extra time that decided the competition.

France's mental strength ...
In physical terms, I would say we finished the match stronger than Italy and scoring the equaliser when we did gave us even more will to win. I think Italy were more affected by fatigue than we were and, on top of that, they had to face a mental challenge after not winning a match they practically had in the bag. We knew we had to concentrate on playing to our qualities and strengths – and we took our chance.

The golden goal ...
It started with a great move by Robert Pirès on our left. He dribbled past Fabio Cannavaro and got to the byline. Then he put in a cross that was fairly difficult but I was on the penalty spot and I hit the ball as it dropped. It went in and we became the first team to win the European Championship after winning the World Cup. It was a great thing for our country.

All my strength went into that shot – it had been a difficult championship for me because I had hoped to play a bigger part. At first I was happy for my team-mates; then I was happy for my family; and then I was happy for myself. We had dreamed of being champions of the world and Europe. It gave me enormous satisfaction at the time and it's a satisfaction I still feel.