Fabien Barthez or stepovers. He was also very quick off his line, and often acted as a sweeper-keeper, thus contributing to the evolution of the role. While he received plaudits for his goalkeeping ability in the media, throughout his career Barthez also frequently came under criticism from pundits for his stubbornness, and his aggressive, unorthodox, and eccentric style of play, as well as for taking unnecessary risks, and was also deemed to be inconsistent, unreliable, and prone to errors and lapses in concentration. Through his career, Barthez was known for his active romantic life, and dated Canadian model Linda Evangelista. She became
Fabien Barthez accomplished by West Germany in 1974. After that triumph, France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001 to 2002. Barthez played on France's World Cup team again in 2002 in which they exited in the first round without winning a game or scoring a goal; he kept his only clean sheet of the tournament in his nation's second group match, a 0–0 draw against Uruguay. He was also his nation's starting keeper throughout their victorious Confederations Cup campaign in 2003, and at Euro 2004; in the latter tournament, he saved David Beckham's penalty shot in