PARIS, July 11 (UPI) -- French soccer team captain Zinédine Zidane received a hero's welcome in Paris despite his head butt that may have cost his team the World Cup.
Zidane was feted during a team lunch at the Elysee Palace with President Jacques Chirac, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.
"Dear Zinedine Zidane, what I want to express to you at this perhaps most intense and difficult time in your career, is the admiration and the affection of the whole nation -- its respect, too," Chirac said. "You are a virtuoso, a genius of world football. You are also a man of the heart, of commitment, of conviction, and that's why France admires and loves you."
After Zidane was ejected from the game, France lost to Italy on a penalty kick. FIFA, the international soccer organization, said it was launching an open disciplinary investigation into Zidane's conduct.
Zidane, the son of Algerians, was provoked by trash talk from Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Materazzi has admitted hurling insults at the French star, but denied he called him or members of his family terrorists.
