Zinedine Zidane, a man perceived by many as offering France their most realistic hope of ending up as world champions, is primed for a spectacular return to action in the Stade de France this afternoon.

Publicly, coach Aime Jacquet will not even confirm Zidane's selection for what promises to be a captivating quarter-final tie with Italy.

Privately, Jacquet is said to be staking everything on his return from a two-match suspension. Zidane needs to galvanise a team which lacked inspiration if not industry in an unconvincing second round success over Paraguay.

Dismissed in the game against Saudi Arabia for a foul which in terms of mindlessness rated alongside David Beckham's indiscretion in St Etienne on Tuesday, he urgently needs to re-establish himself on the world stage.

It's an assignment which provides the Juventus player with one of the most inviting challenges of his career.

Match tickets for this game were priced at $1,000 on the blackmarket in Paris yesterday and applications for press accreditations were running at almost three for every seat available. It is the biggest single attraction so far in the championship, bigger than the Argentina-England game in St Etienne and with at least as much potential to enthrall.

Against that backdrop, it can scarcely fail to catch fire, although both coaches, Jacquet and Cesare Maldini, are cautioning against such high expectations. France, as hosts, need the minimum prize of a place in the semifinals to give substance to their desire for recognition as one of the power bases of football, a rating which was theirs after they claimed the European championship in 1984.

Since then, however, they have never quite lived up to that reputation. Jacquet was not allowed to forget this when he took his daily press conference yesterday. Acknowledging previous disappointments, he said that French people were acutely conscious of the need to set the record straight here.

"There are great expectations of the French players now," he said. "I consider that they are as good as any in the competition, but the pressures on them are greater than most. Somehow we must overcome this against Italy."

The other big problem, he concedes, is matching Italian resolve, second only to that of Germany at this level of competition. "To survive we've got to match them mentally as well as physically, got to ensure that when it comes down to it we have the will to see it through.

"It will be a tactical game like all our previous meetings with Italy, but while it may not be entertaining, it will be very technical. And the team that wins will be in good shape for the rest of the competition."

Ten of the 22 players in the French squad play their club football in Italy and that fact is not lost on Maldini. "They (the French) will not feel inferior - their key players are all involved with top clubs," he said.

"Zidane is their great motivator - I expect him to play. But Youri Djorkaeff is also a fine player. We have nobody in Italy who can link defence and attack like him and he, too, is a problem for us."

Maldini stopped short of articulating the point, but the problem confronting Jacquet is how best to accommodate Zidane and Djorkaeff, two players of not dissimilar styles. And if he goes with a fifth midfielder, which of the specialist attackers does he leave out?

With Laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly in imperious form over the last few weeks, the hosts can claim that defensively they stand alongside the best. More intriguing by far is how they will fare when it comes to sorting the final ball in and around the Italian penalty area.

Maldini is unlikely to lose much sleep over the formation of his defence in which the veteran Giuseppe Bergomi, who came here as cover, has proved as effective as ever in deputising for the injured Alessandro Nesta.

His great worry is whether to persist with Francesco Moriero on the right side of midfield or seek to tighten his defensive cover with the inclusion of Angelo di Livio. The selection of Moriero, an orthodox winger with the ability to supply Christian Vieri, would signal his intention to take the game to the opposition. By going with di Livio, he would be conceding a huge psychological advantage to the French and that seems unlikely.

France will never have a better chance of going all the way on home territory, but the wisdom of years suggests that Italy, third in 1990 and second in America four years later, will still be on course for another final when the gates of the Stade de France are finally closed tonight.

Probable Teams

FRANCE: Barthez; Thuram, Blanc, Desailly, Lizarazu, Deschamps (capt), Petit, Djorkaeff, Pires, Zidane, Trezeguet.

ITALY: Pagliuca; Costacurta, Maldini* (capt), Bergomi, Cannavaro; Baggio, Pessotto, Di Biagio*, Di Livio*; Del Piero, Vieri.

* = on yellow card