When a player of Christophe Dugarry's gift says that, sometimes during a game, he's felt like stopping playing 'just to watch Zidane', you remember that even among France's majestic orchestra, there is only one conductor. When Portugal's Rui Costa, a pretty marvellous old-fashioned No 10 himself, asserts that 'Figo is the best player in the event', he demands no argument. Well, one of the more delightful similarities between Zidane and Figo is that they dismiss them as pleasant but meaningless. They can afford to come across as modest because they are utterly assured of their own value and do not need to be told. Figo began the dismantling of English hype with the 30-yarder which, arguably, has not been topped since.
Big players come up big when it is needed.
This pair have been monumental when required. That strike when they were two down to England, swears Portuguese coach Humberto Coelho, is the only reason Portugal are still in the tournament. Doubtless, there are thousands of kids at this moment trying to replicate it without success throughout Europe's playgrounds. That's the joy of this pair. They have the capacity to make the remarkable seem workaday.