Italy are celebrating their fourth World Cup triumph but the sending-off of France's former Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane has grabbed much of the attention in papers from Turin to Rome.

Zidane was shown a red card after headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest in extra-time, and the Italians the won the game 5-3 on penalties.

"Zidane, what an ugly end", claimed Turin-based Tuttosport, the newspaper that once covered Zidane when he played for Juve.

"His dismissal in extra-time forces a sad goodbye of a footballing genius", Gazzetta dello Sport said: "Goodbye Zizou, you have lost on two counts. You have extended the path of your career, but in the end, you finished up inside a tunnel."

His bizarre actions could not spoil the festive mood in the country which last triumphed in the tournament 24 years ago.

Pictures of captain Fabio Cannavaro lifting the World Cup appear on all the front pages of the national press, while the Genoa-based Secolo XIX created an Italy flag with the whole of the front and back page with the words "World Champions".

"If there had not been a scandal, we would not have won it", said AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso in the Corriere della Sera, referring to the ongoing match-fixing trial.

A judgment is due in Rome's Olympic Stadium this week, but for the time being, the future of four giant Italian clubs has paled into insignificance.

Winning the World Cup does not happen all that often and Italy's fourth title was "legendary", according to Tuttosport.

"Triumph on penalties, the whole country delirious", headlined the Corriere dello Sport. "An unforgettable night gives Italy her fourth world title in history." La Gazzetta dello Sport, whose title is printed in green, white and red, showed a copy of the 1982 front page when Italy defeated Germany 3-1 to last become World Champions in Spain under the headline: "It's all true! Italy are champions."

An article on Gattuso reveals how the Milan midfielder threatened Marcello Lippi to make him stay on as coach.

"Swear to me that you are staying, swear it to me," he screamed. "If you leave, I'm going to kill you!"

If Lippi was considering throwing in the towel, Gattuso's threats, said tongue-in-cheek no doubt, may have altered that.

"We are the champions", said La Stampa's headline, "on top of the world." "The world is all ours", claimed La Repubblica. "Emotions, suffering and joy until that penalty of Grosso." "After being knocked-out three times, this is how we cancelled the past," added La Repubblica, referring to Italy's first penalty shoot-out win in four attempts.

A huge celebration in Rome was planned for this afternoon to welcome back the nation's heroes.

"What a shame, Zizou, great leader of the French and of the world, right up until the fifth minute of the second half of extra-time", noted La Repubblica.

According to the Corriere dello Sport: "It had been his game, full of talent and touches of class, of intuition and the element of surprise, but he ruined it with a gesture which does not belong to a champion."