Francescoli finished his season with River Plate with a defeat in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup final against Italian side Juventus. River Plate had the chance to equal Boca Juniors with two Intercontinental Cup titles, but ultimately lost to the Italian side for which a fan of Francescoli played. Zinedine Zidane said, "when I saw Francescoli play, he was the player I wanted to be. He was the player that I saw and admired at Olympique de Marseille, my idol when I played against him when I was at Juventus... Enzo is like a god." At the end of the year, Francescoli decided to come out of international retirement in order to aid Uruguay in qualifying for the upcoming World Cup in France.