DUAL PERSONALITY ANGEL AND DEMON COMPLEX CHARACTER DEFINES FRANCE'S ZIDANE.

Byline: SCOTT FRENCH Staff Writer

BERLIN - Zinedine Zidane has always seemed so complex a character, coming at unexpected angles, a morass of contradiction and juxtaposition. That he's the finest soccer player of his generation is never questioned: He can do things with a ball that defy imagination.

There's far more to him than the otherworldly skills, the ceaseless inventiveness, the leadership represented in the armband around his bicep, and it makes him interesting, intriguing, in ways David Beckham or Ronaldinho aren't. The French playmaker, who closes his career today on sport's greatest stage, is sustained by a deep well of rage, carefully channeled, at times boiling over.

It's his upbringing, in the rough La Castellane district in the Marseille suburbs, as the son of Algerian immigrants, Berbers from the Kabylie region. He grew up running on the streets, a ball usually at his feet, dodging trouble and facing discrimination daily. It has defined him, lending a mystique, an elusiveness, that is part of the package: Zidane's brilliance isn't as apparent as it seems.

He climbed to ``legend'' status in 1998, scoring twice in the final as France, playing at home, routed Brazil to win its first, and still only, World Cup title. Two years later, he led Les Bleus to the European crown. Tonight Zidane, 34 -- ``Zizou'' to his fans -- looks to go out on top, leading the French into a showdown with three-time champion Italy in this World Cup's championship game at Olympiastadion.

``Yes, it will be the last one for him -- the end,'' France coach Raymond Domenech said. ``But it's not what he's thinking about. This is not about Zinedine Zidane's last game -- it is the World Cup final against Italy. ... That is what is on his mind.''

What's truly on Zidane's mind is anyone's guess. Off the field, he's a shy, awkward man, quiet and humble, very protective of his private life. He's married, to a former dancer and model, with four sons, returns often to the old neighborhood, where his brother runs a youth soccer club and his parents still live, although in considerably nicer digs.

He's an icon, a hero to immigrant youth -- France's young immigrant population is called ``generation Zidane'' -- but has done all he can to seem colorless, sidestepping anything the least controversial, carefully avoiding political issues. ``I have no message,'' he said, famously and repeatedly, in the extended frenzy following the '98 triumph.

He's an elegant player, possessing incomparable touch, capable of the most alarmingly beautiful play -- yet capable of lashing out with minimal provocation.

He famously stamped on Saudi Arabia's Faoud Amin at the 1998 World Cup, picking up a two-game suspension -- the Berber community applauded his ``revenge'' on the evil Arab ``extemists.'' And he head-butted Hamburger SV's Jochen Kientz in a UEFA Champions League game when he played for Juventus, drawing a five-game ban.

``Nobody knows if Zidane is an angel or a demon,'' French rock singer Jean-Louis Murat, a Zidane fan, once said. ``He smiles like St. Teresa and grimaces like a serial killer.''

``It's hard to explain,'' Zidane told English newspaper The Observer two years ago. ``I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard. And this desire never to stop fighting is something I learned in the place I grew up. And, for me, the most important thing is that I still know who I am. Every day I think about where I come from, and I am still proud to be who I am: first, a Kabyle from La Castellane, then an Algerian from Marseille, and then a Frenchman.''

His rise from La Castellane into French consciousness began on the streets, where at 14 he was spotted by a scout, who reported to Cannes' youth director: ``I've just found you a genius.''

Zidane debuted for Cannes' first team before he turned 17 -- he scored one sensational goal that season, weaving through six defenders -- then moved to Girondins Bordeaux, He made his first appearance for France in 1994, when he was 22, coming off the bench to score two late goals and forge a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic.

Now, he's appreciated more for how he does things than what he accomplishes. His array of tricks -- stepovers and spins through traffic, the ball never leaving his foot; the feints and little touches to alter the angle of attack, the instinctive passes to set up teammates or find space for the next breathtaking maneuver.

``It's like,'' one foe noted, ``he has hands on his feet.''

``He dominates the ball,'' said former Real Madrid great Alfredo

Di Stefano. ``He plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot.''

A win over Italy would provide a perfect exit. Not that anyone is happy to see him go.

``When you see him play like (against Brazil), it's others who should be stopping, not him,'' Thuram said.

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(color) Midfielder Zinedine Zidane has helped lead France into tonight's World Cup final against Italy. This will be Zidane's final game.

Fernando Llano/Associated Press

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ZIZOU'S DEPUTIES

- Scott French