"You are a virtuoso, a genius of world football. You are also a man of the heart, of commitment, of conviction, and that's why France admires and loves you," Chirac told Zidane.

PARIS — France greeted its beaten World Cup team with tears and cheers on Monday, July 10, as the nation looked to forgive and understand what prompted their midfield maestro and icon Zinedine Zidane to head butt an Italian player in the World Cup final.

President Jacques Chirac paid handsome tribute to the legend Zidane despite the shock red card, and several thousand French fans gathered in central Paris to welcome home the weary World Cup finalists, Reuters reported.

"You are a virtuoso, a genius of world football. You are also a man of the heart, of commitment, of conviction, and that's why France admires and loves you," Chirac told Zidane, calling him "an exceptional captain."

"Dear Zinedine Zidane, what I want to express to you at this perhaps most intense and difficult time in your career, is the admiration and the affection of the whole nation -- it's respect too," Chirac said as he greeted the team at his Elysee Palace.

A sheepish-looking Zidane bowed before the flag-waving crowds as one-by-one the French players stepped forward on the balcony of a luxury hotel to greet their die-hard supporters.

"Zizou for president," fans chanted, referring to Zidane's nickname, calling him back for a second curtain call that suggested they had forgiven his red mist.

Zidane was sent off in Sunday night's game following an astonishing blow to the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi that ensured he missed the decisive shoot-out, which secured Italy the cup.

Zidane fired France to victory in the 1998 World Cup and had hoped to lead his team to further glory in Germany in what he had said would be his final game.

"Thank You"

Zidane's team mates refused to publicly criticise the player or divulge his locker room explanation of the head butt.

"Obviously he was very disappointed to end (his career) with a defeat, above all, and to have left his team mates. But he remains a great man," said France defender Jean-Alain Boumsong.

France striker Thierry Henry said: "All I want to say to 'Zizou', and I think France should say it and the world of football ... is 'thank you', and 'thank you'. That's it."

The press, however, was divided over Zidane's "fit of madness."

The daily newspaper Le Parisien asked how "the blue angel turned into a devil," while sports paper L'Equipe condemned the "stupid" assault on Materazzi that editorialist Claude Droussent said it was hard to forgive.

"What should we tell our children and all those for whom you have become an example for ever?" he asked, concluding: "How could that happen to a man like you?"

Adidas, the German maker of sportswear and equipment, plans to launch the Internet site mercizidane.fr on Saturday to thank French football star Zidane as he retires.

Fans are to write and videotape messages for the former French captain, with one lucky fan set to win the jersey worn by Zidane during the football World Cup final against Italy on Sunday.

"Very Serious Jibe"

"Something must have been said to Zidane. He is actually a reserved and inoffensive person," Beckenbauer said.

Zidane's agent said that the soccer icon was provoked by a "very serious jibe" made by the Italian defender.

"He told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn't tell me what," Alain Migliaccio told the BBC Monday.

"Zinedine didn't want to talk about it but he will talk about it in the next couple of days. He is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him. He was very disappointed and sad. He didn't want it to end this way."

Zidane has not given his account of the incident but there have also been reports Materazzi had called him a "terrorist" or suggested he did not have the right to play for France -- both insults based on French-born Zidane's Algerian heritage.

Britain's top forensic lip reader Jessica Rees told The Times that Materazzi called Zidane a "son of a terrorist whore" just before the France captain gave him a brutal head-butt in the World Cup final.

"After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed that Materazzi called Zidane 'the son of a terrorist whore' before adding 'so just f*** off' for good measure," the paper said.

Materazzi on Monday denied calling Zidane a terrorist, adding that "I don't even know what the word means".

The Daily Mail said Tuesday that it too engaged the services of a lip reader, whom it did not identify, who reached the exact same conclusion as Rees.

The Independent cited lip readers for Brazil's Globo television as concluding that Materazzi had told Zidane that his sister was a "prostitute".

Enduring Popularity

"Zidane was the magician in the game," said Pele.

But if any proof of Zidane's enduring popularity were needed, he was voted the best player of the World Cup on Monday by journalists who had covered the tournament, ahead of Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro.

It was Zidane's two bullet headers that lifted France to a 3-0 triumph over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final in Paris and he had been touted as the man who held the key to Sunday's showdown after fine showings against Spain, Brazil and Portugal.

Tributes had flowed after his masterful display in the quarter-final against Brazil, when he eclipsed world footballer of the year Ronaldinho in midfield and glided over the 57th minute free-kick for Thierry Henry to score.

Pele, widely regarded as the greatest player in history, said simply: "Zidane was the magician in the game."

For Germany's two-time World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer, Zidane "is one of the greatest players in history".

Beckenbauer was convinced he had been provoked by Materazzi.

"Something must have been said to Zidane. He is actually a reserved and inoffensive person," the German great said.

Another Gallic icon, Michel Platini, said the two goals in the 1998 final in Paris "left an indelible mark on a whole generation".

A three-time FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, Zidane made his France debut in a friendly against the Czech Republic on August 17, 1994, scoring the first of his 28 international goals.

His club career took off at Cannes under Luis Fernandez before his 17th birthday.

After a spell at Bordeaux, Zidane moved to Juventus where his stock rose sharply as he won the European Super Cup, two Intercontinental Cups and two Italian championships.

After helping France win Euro 2000 he moved to Real Madrid for what is still a record 75 million euros and two years later scored a superb volley in the Spaniards' win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League final.

Having retired from the international scene after France failed to retain their European title at Euro 2004, he returned after claiming he had been told in a nocturnal visitation to help steer the struggling team to Germany.