What a night. What a climax. What a result and what a winner. Euro 2000 got the final this compelling tournament deserved last night and, in a thrilling end, France conquered Europe two years after they beat the world. They became the first country to do that and, while the quality of their football in Belgium and Holland earned them their triumph, in Rotterdam last night it was Italy who seemed to have picked up their first trophy since 1982.

Leading 1-0 through Marco Delvecchio's 54th-minute volley and stubbornly maintaining their resistance for the next 40 minutes, Italy were seconds away from an unlikely, though not unwarranted victory. Then, four minutes and 20 seconds into injury-time, Sylvain Wiltord, a second-half substitute for Christophe Dugarry, controlled a hopeful ball forward, held his nerve and beat the otherwise defiant Francesco Toldo with a firm shot. It was extraordinary drama.

The Italians were shattered. France were on the up. Thirteen minutes into the first half of added-time, Demetrio Albertini lost the ball on the edge of the Italy box. Robert Pires, like Wiltord a substitute, set off for the byline. He crossed with his left foot to France's third substitute, David Trezeguet.

Trezeguet was unmarked eight yards out, but the ball came to him at a difficult trajectory. Trezeguet promptly swivelled on his right foot and with the left he fired the ball into the top corner. A fantastic goal. Trezeguet joins Juventus in a month.

The Feyenoord Stadium erupted. Glittering gold-dust came from the sky. The Italians fell to the earth. It was impossible not to feel sympathy for them. They may have been responsible for a poor first half, but once Francesco Totti found himself after the break, Italy were strong, skilful and capable of inflicting the first defeat on this famous French quartet of defenders since 1996.

But it was not to be and Alessandro Del Piero can be blamed for that. Del Piero passed up the best opportunity in normal time. Four minutes after Delvecchio's opener, Del Piero had the chance to make it 2-0, but missed badly with only Fabien Barthez to beat. A goal then and the title was Italy's.

In his defence, Del Piero had just come on, Dino Zoff having preferred Totti. Zoff also dropped Filippo Inzaghi in favour of the slicker Delvecchio and in an electric first minute when Totti sent Delvecchio flying clear of the French back four, Zoff's decision-making looked enterprising.

Even at that stage, with the game measured in seconds rather than minutes, Thierry Henry had given an example of his speed, and the match was in its fifth minute when some surprisingly casual goalkeeping from Toldo allowed an ambitious Henry shot to hit Toldo's near post.

Had that gone in the game would have been different, Italy would have had to chase and create. Instead, goalless, Italy just chased. The harassment had the desired effect. Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira were guilty of squandering the possession France were monopolising. Even Zinedine Zidane was subdued and as Italy stifled the play, a seamy undercurrent appeared. Fuelled by the ugly racism of the Italian fans, Marcel Desailly left Fabio Cannavaro clutching his face shortly before half-time.

The Italians were upset by that, but when they went into the interval they must have been happy generally. Toldo had been forced to make only one save in the opening half, from Youri Djorkaeff after 38 minutes.

At the other end, Barthez had been similarly under-employed. With Delvecchio isolated up front, only when Paolo Maldini made progress down the left flank did Italy convince that they might want to change the nature of the night. Sure enough, in the 53rd minute it was a centre from Maldini that caused Laurent Blanc to concede a corner. It was in front of the Italian support who roared fervently. Sixty seconds earlier Del Piero replaced Stefano Fiore and it was as if the fans sensed this was Italy's moment.

The players, too. A few seconds later they had won another corner and from it Totti produced the backheel of the tournament to release Gianluca Pessotto behind Bixente Lizarazu. Seeing the all white object of his desire behind a thicket of blue, Pessotto came up with the perfect cross. Fast and accurate, all Delvecchio had to do was make contact. He did, and the ball was volleyed past Barthez. One-nil to the Italy.

France were stunned. Yet it could have been so much worse when Totti supplied Del Piero as he ran free into the France area. That Italy were to regret that is the understatement of Euro 2000.

Roger Lemerre, France's coach, reacted by bringing on Wiltord and Trezeguet. Yet, until that dramatic injury-time, neither they nor Henry could get their angles right. As well as that, Toldo had a magnet's grip on the ball.

Then France tried once more. A punt to the far side. Cannavaro rose but the ball skidded off his head. It fell to Wiltord. It was late, it was tense and it was certainly not easy. Wiltord kept his head, the shot was low and was just true enough to beat Toldo. There could be only one winner after that.

Nevertheless, Italy could not have expected Albertini to lose the ball or Trezeguet to finish so emphatically. But that's what happened. In the space of a few seconds the night went from all white on the night to sacre bleu.