French m🔯idfield maestro Zinedine Zidane was, on the face of it, a cool and calm p𒁏ersona. But rage simmers within all. And during the 2006 World Cup final, the Real Madrid icon lost his head.
Rather, he used it for the wrong reason.
France were playing Italy 🔴in Berlin’s historic 𓂃Olympic Stadium. The score was 1-1, and the match went into extra time. In the 110th minute, Italy’s Marco Materazzi triggered Zidane with a comment mentioning his sister.
Players are expected to not react to trolling by opponents. But then every man has a limit, especially if a female family me♑mber is mentioned.
Zidane heard Mat🐬erazzi’s remark, walked back tow♒ards him and slammed his head into the Italian’s ribcage.
It was an automatic red card. France lost on penalties and Zidane was cri𝔉ticized for letting his team down. At the same time, some ꩲpraised him for standing up for his family.
Materazzi’s exact words toꦑ Zidane remained a matte𓂃r of speculation and gossip for a long time. He revealed them a few years ago.
“There had been a bit of contact between us in the area [field],” Materazzi said. 🧸“He had scored France's goal in the first half and our coach (Marcello Lippi) told me to mark him. After that first brush between us, I apologised but he reacted badly.
“After the third clash, I frowned and he retorted: 'I'll give you my shirt later'🍌. I replied that I'd rather have his s🍃ister than his shirt.”
While the words were crass, Materazzi said su🃏ch exchanges were fairly common in certain circumstances, and he did not expect Zidane to react t🍰he way he did.
“My words were stupid but🦋 did not deserve that reaction,” he said. “In any ne𓄧ighborhood of Rome, Naples, Turin, Milan, Paris, I hear much more serious things.”
The incident became so🙈 iconic that there is a statue of the headbutt in Qatar. It will be on🌳 display during the World Cup.
