It’s been more than 10 years since that infamous night in Berlin, where, in the 110th minute of Zinedine Zidane’s final professional match, the French captain was sent off for battering Marco Materazzi with his bald head.
Having persistently tugged on Zidane’s shirt throughout the match (there was truly no other way to mark the man at the tournament), Zidane is reported to have asked Materazzi if he’d like the shirt after the match. Materazzi, in turn, supposedly replied: “I would prefer your sister”. We all know how Zidane received that comment.
France would lose on penalties, but Zidane would be far from vilified for his actions. In fact, outside of Italy at least, Zidane has been made an idol for his head-butt. Zidane continues to enjoy his status as a legend of the game as manager of Real Madrid, while Materazzi enjoys, well, something less.
However, Materazzi won the 2006 World Cup Final. Zidane did not, and Materazzi will not let him forget about this fact.
