Champagne Superknees-up

Champagne Superknees-up - Noel Gallagher was the toast of the Italy team after their World Cup triumph on Sunday.

The footie-mad Manc has been the Azzuris lucky mascot through the key stages of Germany 06 after striking up a friendship with goal ace Alessandro Del Piero.

And the Juventus star invited Noel back to the teams hotel to enjoy a champagne super knees-up after the big match.Mop-top Noel, who was at more games in Germany than David Beckam, even borrowed new chum Alessandros acoustic guitar and belted out a rendition of Dont Look Back In Anger.

The players thought it was bellissimo. A source tells me: Noel has been in touch with Alessandro all through the tournament.

He has been a lucky charm for the Italian team and seemed to do the trick again in the final.

Del Piero invited him back to the team hotel to enjoy the party and Noel jumped at the chance.

Not all the players know Noel from Oasis but they all seemed to pick up the bands lyrics pretty quickly, and they were all singing along when he performed Dont Look Back In Anger in the hotel bar.

The champagne was flowing and Noel was a big part of the party.

It pains me to say it but Noels gig for the Italians at the Hotel Landhaus Milser near Dusseldorf was about as close as an Englishman got to holding the famous trophy.

And if defeat wasnt bad enough for our boys, the England squad now have another reason to hang their heads in shame having given one of our finest musical talents little choice but to defect to the opposition.

Noel befriended Del Piero and ex-Italian captain Paulo Maldini after an Oasis gig in Turin the home of Juventus three years ago.

They kept in touch and Noel swaps gig tickets with them for seats at Champions League games

.Noel said: Alessandro is an Oasis fan and after one concert he gave me a pair of his boots. But I had to give one to Liam.

Id never seen Italy live until the semi-final against Germany in Dortmund last week. We went to the team hotel before the game and Del Piero was a bit upset because he wasnt in their starting line-up.

Then he told me, Im going to come off the bench and score and thats exactly what he did. Afterwards he said Id become his lucky mascot and hes so superstitious he told me I had to go to the final and wear exactly the same clothes to bring him good luck right down to my socks and underwear.

I hear Noel is now going to sell his lucky threads on Ebay.Its a shame hes not auctioning off a performance of Dont Look Back In Anger.

I reckon the sentiment would be ideal for red-carded hothead Zinedine Zidane and his fellow French losers.