Our OTB Saturday series revisiting a different World Cup each week looked-back at the 2006 tournament today.
Across two hours we got into the weeds, revisiting Messi's ill-fated campaign, the dark clouds hanging over Italy's win and the subsequent Seria A scandal and of course - Zinedine Zidane's moment which will live in infamy as he took the law into his own hands and loafed Marco Materazzi.
Do you remember where you were when Zidane headbutted Materazzi???@JohnDugganSport, @gergilroy, @Ui_Maine and @McDonnellDan
discuss one of the most iconic moments in WC history...
Full story and full chat ➡️ https://t.co/MWdEnfAMHz pic.twitter.com/WmDlwOFnwI— Off The Ball (@offtheball) April 25, 2020
Presenter John Duggan lamented that Materazzi deserved the headbutt - while the Irish Independent's Dan McDonnell argued that whatever was said, Zidane had to take responsibility for losing his cool getting himself sent off in a final.
OTB's Ger Gilroy was in the stadium on the night but confessed that he missed the off the ball incident (and the in-stadium replays of it).
Shortly after the match (and France's World Cup disappointment), Zidane appeared on Canal+.
Rewatching the incident, he claimed that the Italian had insulted his mother and sister multiple times before the physical altercation.
Zizou added that he'd rather have been punched than being on the end of Materazzi's insults.
Counterclaim
10 years after the match, Materazzi discussed the incident with L’Equipe.
He said, “What I said was stupid... but it didn’t deserve that reaction."
(FILE) A file photograph showing Zinedine Zidane from France is shown the red card by referee Horazio Elizondo during the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup between Italy and France at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany, Sunday 09 July 2006. |“You would hear 'stronger words' said on the streets of Naples, or Milan, or Paris, much more serious things,” he continued.
He said that having lost his mother as a teenager, the defender would not insult a fellow pro's mother - and that it was a comment about his sister which had provoked the Frenchman.
Zidane headbutt
Zidane reflected on the incident again in 2017, telling FT1:
"I did not feel proud... I am not proud of this gesture."
He added that he worried about the example that it had set for young people and the negative light cast on the game in France while coaches and volunteers were trying to use the sport to make a positive impact on society.
