He also played in Jean Tigana's talented Monaco side, which famously put his future club Manchester United out of the Champions League in 1998 on away goals after a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford.

The fans loved his eccentric behaviour, his taunting dribbles and step-overs past opposing strikers,[15] and most importantly, his remarkable reaction saves.

After dropping a cross from Robbie Keane, Barthez deliberately kicked out with his foot at Ian Harte, who fell to the ground on the edge of six yard box, and the referee awarded a penalty to Leeds.

The Frenchman seemed to be taking some unnecessary risks outside his penalty area, and his antics began to have consequences that allowed unneeded goals for opposing teams.

[26] But another couple of late errors against Arsenal in a 3–1 defeat at Highbury the following month put much pressure on Barthez, with two goals gifted to Thierry Henry, one of which came from a mis-hit clearance.

[27] Barthez was at the centre of further controversy when, after already being on a yellow card following an argument with Matthew Upson, he was caught by television cameras raising his middle fingers behind his back towards the Arsenal supporters, who had been taunting him for his errors towards the end of the match; the incident was missed by the referee Peter Jones, however.

[31] Izzet, tired of waiting, slotted the ball in the bottom corner, but referee Andy D'Urso made him retake the penalty, this time with Barthez in goal.

This time he was booked for his antics by referee Mike Dean, and so he then took his place between the posts and made it work again by saving Steed Malbranque's spot kick.

[37][38] Barthez's poor form at the end of the previous season and the arrival of American newcomer Tim Howard in summer of 2003, saw the Frenchman face competition for a starting spot at United.

[43][44] Barthez began training with Marseille, who took on a portion of his wages,[45] but FIFA initially blocked the loan deal on the grounds that it was not agreed upon within the international transfer window.

On 21 April, Barthez was summoned to a hearing before the disciplinary committee of the French Football Federation (FFF); the following day, he received a six-month suspension, with the last three months being suspended.

[7][51] On 8 August 2006, Barthez announced he was still hoping to play professional football for another two years, insisting he was also looking to continue his career in the French international setup.

"[52][53] On 17 December 2006, Barthez announced his return to football by signing a contract with Ligue 1 side Nantes,[54] who were lacking an experienced goalkeeper following Mickaël Landreau's move to Paris Saint-Germain the previous summer.

Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojković, originally recruited to replace Landreau, failed to impress and left Nantes at the winter break following a rift within the squad.

In 2012, Barthez became the honorary president of Championnat National team Luzenac, where he personally picked Quentin Westberg and Nicolas Dieuze to sign for the club.

[53] Barthez was understudy to Bernard Lama at UEFA Euro 1996 – at which France reached the semi-finals – after testing positive for cannabis earlier that year;[57] he was suspended for two months as a result.

[7][8] Barthez was an integral part of his national team's inaugural triumph which also made it the first time in 20 years that a host had won the World Cup.

[64] 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;[65] he kept his only clean sheet of the tournament in his nation's second group match, a 0–0 draw against Uruguay.

[6] He was also his nation's starting keeper throughout their victorious Confederations Cup campaign in 2003,[66] and at Euro 2004; in the latter tournament, he saved David Beckham's penalty shot in the opening round robin match, but France went out in the quarter-finals to eventual winners Greece.

France is now one of only four nations (along with Italy, Argentina and the 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.

[7] Barthez again kept another clean sheet – his fourth of the tournament[6] – in the semi-final against Portugal (with Zinedine Zidane's penalty shot the winning goal), though he appeared in questionable form.

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.

He began competing at selected events in the Porsche Carrera Cup France that year with the team SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion.

[70] In 2013, he also competed in the newly re-branded FIA GT Series alongside Gérard Tonelli in the Gentleman Trophy class with SOFREV ASP, driving a GT3-spec Ferrari 458 Italia.

[79] Standing at 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in), he was not particularly tall for a goalkeeper,[8][74][75][80] although he was extremely athletic, and was known for his elevation, as well as his decision-making, bravery, ability to read the game and commitment when coming out to collect the ball, which made him effective in the air and enabled him to command his area effectively in spite of his short stature;[68][75][81] however, at times, he was still caught out on high balls due to his lack of height and poor handling, and he also came under criticism on occasion for his indecisiveness when struggling to deal with crosses.

[78] In addition to his shot-stopping abilities,[8][74][77][83] Barthez was also known to be a passionate, popular, and highly recognisable footballing figure,[6][57][76][84] who stood out for his outgoing personality, self-assurance, and composure under pressure, as well as his leadership from the back and authoritative presence in goal.

[6][8] 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; he was also deemed to be inconsistent, unreliable and prone to errors and lapses in concentration.