It was a headbutt no soccer fan will ever forget.
In the 2006 World Cup Final, France’s best player Zinedine Zidane was shown a red card after headbutting Italian midfielder Marco Materazzi in the chest. It was a moment France will never forget, and Italy wound up winning the match in penalty kicks.
For years, the general line was that Materazzi had insulted Zidane’s mother, which caused him to fly off the handle. Materazzi never confirmed that, but also never clarified what he did say.
This week, the 10th anniversary of the match, Materazzi — who is writing a book about his life — finally came clean.
It wasn’t Zidane’s mother he spoke about. It was Zidane’s sister.
“What I said was stupid,” Materazzi told L’Equipe, “but it didn’t deserve that reaction.
“You would hear stronger words said on the streets of Naples, or Milan, or Paris, much more serious things.”
The most common version of events until now has been that Materazzi insulted Zidane’s mother but the Italian denies that this was the case.
“My mother died when I was 15, I would never have insulted his.
“I spoke about his sister.”
Now we know. I have no idea if it’s better or worse being the sister as opposed to the mother, but now we know.
