Editing Fabien Barthez (section)

===2006 World Cup===
{{Main|2006 FIFA World Cup}}
His place as starting goalkeeper in France's [[2006 FIFA World Cup|2006 World Cup]] campaign, in the face of a substantial public campaign in support of [[Grégory Coupet]], was surprising to many, even more so given Coupet's flawless performance in the remainder of the World Cup qualifying campaign after Barthez's suspension. The decision was met with derision in the French press and also led to Coupet's walking out of the national squad before the tournament, though he was to return one day later. The move was viewed by some as a desire to keep the veterans of France's 1998 World Cup victory on the team. ''L'Equipe'' reported after the World Cup that Barthez would have walked out of the squad had he not been named the starter.<ref name="old guard">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/08/worldcup2006.sport7|title=Barthez ready to grasp another chance to show France are still safe in the old guard's hands|newspaper=The Guardian|author1=Jon Brodkin|date=8 July 2006|access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref>

France had a slow start in the group stage, drawing their first two games and putting their chances of reaching the knock-out stages at risk. Fortunately, Barthez's team found their form and won their final round robin match 2–0 to advance to the next stage, where they upset heavily favoured [[Spain men's national football team|Spain]] 3–1 in the [[round of 16]].

In defeating Brazil, 1–0 on 1 July 2006, Barthez, having made only one save in the game (on an injury time shot from Ronaldo), became the first keeper to blank the Brazilian team in consecutive World Cup finals matches, the first being the 1998 final (3–0). France is now one of only four nations (along with [[Italy national football team|Italy]], [[Argentina national football team|Argentina]] and the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]]) to have shut Brazil out twice in the World Cup finals, and the first to have done it in consecutive matches, both times with Barthez in goal.<ref name="grado zero"/>

Barthez again kept another clean sheet – his fourth of the tournament<ref name="Behind the World Cup record"/> – in the semi-final against [[Portugal national football team|Portugal]] (with Zinedine Zidane's penalty shot the winning goal), though he appeared in questionable form. A few minutes from time, he spectacularly spilled a free-kick which [[Luís Figo]] recovered, heading over the bar although unchallenged. He did, however, redeem himself in injury time when a French defender fumbled the ball, enabling a Portuguese player to mount a last-moment attack. Barthez scrambled out of the net and blocked the first shot.<ref name="old guard"/>

During the [[2006 FIFA World Cup Final|final]] against Italy, he briefly captained his team for the remainder of the second period of extra time after Zidane was sent off. During the penalty shootout, neither he nor his Italian counterpart [[Gianluigi Buffon]] made a save, and France striker [[David Trezeguet]]'s missed shot ultimately proved decisive.<ref name="grado zero"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/worldcup2006/minbymin/0,,1788448,00.html|title=Italy 1 – 1 France (5–3 pens)|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=27 June 2014}}</ref> This proved to be Barthez's 87th and final international appearance, as he retired from international football following the tournament.<ref name="Barthez quits"/>