The beautiful game turned vicious, even venomous Sunday.

It was all still beautiful to Italy.

And very ugly for France, which lost captain Zinedine Zidane with a red card after his nasty head butt in extra time, and then went down 5-3 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw.

Explanations were nonexistent for Zidane’s action in the 110th minute of his farewell game. He was walking upfield near defender Marco Materazzi when, in his final act for his national team, he bashed his shaven head into Materazzi’s chest.

“The game was pretty good until overtime when Zidane did the head butt,” said Patrick Mangan, senior in Engineering.

Mangan, a fan of the English team at the start of the tournament, watched the event on campus hoping for a French victory.

The French coach Raymond Domenech said Materazzi’s fall was all an act.

“A gust of wind made him fall over,” Domenach said.

Not quite. Zidane, who is retiring, might have been provoked, but he definitely knocked over Materazzi.

“It’s regrettable. We regret it, he regrets it,” Domenech said.

Without their leader, the French still had their chance in the shootout. But without Thierry Henry or Franck Ribery, France did not have their best shooters on the pitch. And the Italians, never masters of the penalty kick, made all five, setting off an hour of hugging, dancing and fist-pumping celebrations.

“We did it! This is great, just great,” said Luigi Freda, a visiting scholar from Italy. “There are no words.”

Outplayed for an hour and into extra time, the Italians won it after Zidane committed the ugliest act of a tournament that set records for yellow and red cards, diving and, at times, outright brutality.

Asked if French soccer would miss Zidane, Domenech said:

“Yes, well, he was missed in the last 20 minutes tonight. It weighed heavily in the outcome.”

Without their leader for the shootout, the French only missed once.

But Italy was perfect. Fabio Grosso clinched the Azzurri’s fourth championship, and his teammates had to chase him halfway across the pitch to celebrate.

“It’s incredibly emotional. Words can hardly describe it,” Grosso said. “Maybe we still don’t realize what we have achieved. We really wanted to win and in the end we made it.”

Only Brazil has more World Cup wins with five. France took Brazil out of the tournament last week.

French fan Thiavaut Chirouzes and University graduate student said the Brazilian win was the highlight of the 2006 tournament.

Chirouzes watched the game at a local bar with his entire body painted to resemble the French flag.

“In the end it was Europe that won,” Freda said.

Staff writer Danielle Gaines contributed to this report.