Dino Zoff - denies France are better than Italy. (Allsport)

ZOFF: WE'RE NOT INFERIOR

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Italy coach Dino Zoff denied that France were the best in Europe despite their 2-1 golden goal victory over the Azzurri in Rotterdam on Sunday night.

David Trezeguet won the game for France with a strike in the first half of extra-time after Sylvain Wiltord had equalised Marco Delvecchio's opener deep into stoppage time.

But, after having one hand on the Henri Delaunay trophy, Zoff refused to accept that his side were inferior.

"We scored first and had several chances to finish the match. Unfortunately, we missed them and they caught up after 93 minutes," he said.

"I don't think we played a bad match. If we lost it's due to bad luck but we did a great job, we showed that Italy can play any team, and that the accusations of excessive defence were only due to the fact that we played with 10 men against the home team Holland."

Italy's strikers were the subject of scrutiny throughout the tournament with the debate centred on the choice between Francesco Totti and Alessandro del Piero to partner Fillipo Inzaghi.

But Zoff surprised many by selecting Delvecchio supported by Totti for the final.

Del Piero did appear early in the second half but Inzaghi failed to get off the bench despite starting every game leading up to the final.

"Delvecchio seemed more rested having played less matches. I think he did his part. Del Piero didn't score but he played well," explained Zoff.