Zidane vs Materazzi

The world cup final saw a dramatic headbutt into the Italian's chest followed by a red card for Zidane. What exactly happened that cause Zizou to lose his head? The interview with a french tv channel provided us with some answers:


It seems that Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother and sister, but Materazzi denies speaking of his mother (but not his sister?) in another interview. Zidane apologised for the assault, but have no regrets over what he has done as regretting would mean that Materazzi was right to say what he said. However, he refused to reveal what exactly Materazzi said.

"Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?"

"I want to ask for forgiveness from all the children who watched that. There was no excuse for it. I want to be open and honest about it because it was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children were watching. I have children I know what it's like and I always tell them not to be taken advantage of and to avoid this type of situation."

- Zidane

"I didn't mention anything about religion, politics or racism. I didn't insult his mother. I lost my mother when I was 15-years-old and still get emotional when I talk about it."

"Naturally, I didn't know that his mother was in hospital but I wish her all the best. Zidane is my hero and I have always admired him a lot."

”I didn’t call him a terrorist either , I don’t even know what an Islamic terrorist is!”

- Materazzi

Fifa has already began their investigation into this matter and Materazzi will face a disciplinary proceedings with the committee in july 20.


What exactly was said remains a mystery. But, Britain's top lip reader suggested the following:

She deciphered the insult as being "you're the son of a terrorist whore"

Materazzi told Zidane to "calm down" before accusing him of being a "liar" and wished "an ugly death to you and your family". This was followed by "Go f*** yourself"

If that was the case, there is no wonder why Zidane headbutted Materazzi for such an insult. He might not have handled it the appropriate way, but he did what any self-respecting man would have done to uphold the dignity of his family.

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