What did Materazzi say to Zidane? Because of what words did Zinedine Zidane hit Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup finals?

The scandalous event that took place in Berlin on July 9, 2006 during the final match of the world football championship between the national teams of France and Italy, is being discussed by fans until now. Then Zidane struck Materazzi head in the chest, for which he was removed from the field by the main arbiter of the match. The incident happened in the second half of extra time, and the legendary Frenchman could not help his team win. This story was the reason for the split of millions of not only ardent fans, but also ordinary people in two camps, each of which supported its side of the conflict. Moreover, as a result of it, human morality was opposed to sporting professionalism. This article will focus on what Materazzi said to Zidane and what it led to.

Prehistory of the duel

The French national team, according to most experts, passed the tournament grid and was given the right to participate in the main match of the championship quite unexpectedly, due to a number of happy coincidences. On the other hand, the experts were also skeptical about the chances of the Italians for the final success before the start of the championship.

Key episodes of the final

The score in the final game was opened after the strike of Zidane, who spent his last match in his career, with an eleven-meter mark. The Frenchman performed a pizza kick, but the ball was still in the net of Buffon's goal. Penalty was earned by Floran Malouda, which fouled Materazzi. Some time later, the same Marco leveled the score, scoring his head after filing with a corner kick. In extra time, in the 110th minute, followed by a strong blow to the famous "bald" right in the chest of the Italian defender, who immediately fell to the lawn. After several minutes of meetings with the side referee, the chief referee showed the Frenchman a red card. At that moment, he was completely indifferent to what Materazzi had said to Zidane, what he had provoked him to do so. Team France, which up to this point had a small game advantage, retained a draw result to a series of penalty shoot-outs, which lost 5: 3 due to an inaccurate stroke of David Trezeguet, hit the crossbar.

Contradictory decision of the Chief Justice

The main arbiter of the decisive duel of the 2006 soccer world championship in Berlin was the Argentinian, Horacio Elisondo. Later, he admitted that he realized the importance of his decision at that time only after the reaction to it from the media. Together with this, he stressed that he showed a red card to an ordinary football player, the same as everyone else. The arbitrator stated that he did not see the moment of the strike. No wonder he did not know what Materazzi had said to Zidane. The fact is that then the ball was on the opposite side of the field, so Elisondo was there, watching the process of the game. The fact that the Italian defender collapsed on the lawn and does not rise from it, he was informed by an assistant through the earpiece. The game was stopped. It so happened that the episode did not fall in the field of view of any of the side judges. Only reserve referee Luis Medina Castalejo reported that he saw the Frenchman inflict an Italian blow to the chest. Most players also did not understand what was happening. The only exceptions were Gattuso and Buffon, who were nearby. Horacio Elisondo once again ran up to one of the side judges and asked him to be more careful in the future, because there are only ten minutes of playing time. He knew that the linesman had not seen anything, but he had earned himself some sort of cover. After that, the chief referee returned and showed Zidane a red card.

Consequences for the arbitrator

A few months after the completion of mundialya, this Argentine judge completed his professional career, despite the fact that he had the right to serve official football matches for another six years. Moreover, at that time he was recognized as one of the best arbiters of the planet. Be that as it may, there is every reason to believe that the only reason for this decision was the episode, which was attended by Materazzi and Zidane during the match in Berlin on July 9, 2006.

The Book of Materazzi

For some time, the Italian defender refused to insult the Frenchman. He argued that this was an ordinary provocation, which is typical for many other matches of the highest level. Moreover, Marco Materazzi even managed to make money on this scandalous episode. He did this by writing a book in which he cited about two hundred different replicas that could serve as the cause of what had happened, thereby demonstrating his developed fantasy. In this work, he admitted that he participated in the game not so much due to professionalism, but because of the injury of another defender. Nevertheless, he took part in all the key episodes - earned a penalty for the French, equalized and provoked the removal of the leader of the enemy.

Official version

In order to get to the truth and find out what Materazzi said to Zidane during the sensational football match, many actions were taken. Some authoritative publications even attracted specialists able to read lips, but no one could definitely answer this question. About a year later, interest in the episode began to subside, so the scandalous defender decided to remind himself of this secret. During a speech on an Italian television channel, he said that the Frenchman during the match four times wondered if Marco wanted to try on his shirt. After the last such question, Materatstsia replied that he would rather have preferred Zidane's sister. Later, the Italian brought a public apology.

Zidane's Opinion

One of the best football players of recent times - Zinedine Zidane - for a very long time did not comment on the situation. However, over time, he described the episode somewhat differently. In particular, he said that Marco all the game grabbed his t-shirt. The Frenchman asked him not to do this and promised to give it after the game. In response, he heard insults against his sister and mother. As a result, Zidane could not restrain himself, because words often become more offensive than actions. Friends of the Frenchman several times stated that he sincerely regrets that he led his team at such a crucial moment. But he will never apologize to the Italian.

Effects

The day after the match, Italy was in euphoria and continued to celebrate the historic victory. At the same time, the rest of the football world continued to wonder why Zidane hit Materazzi. Whatever it was, after the return of the French national team to their homeland, President Jacques Chirac called all of its players national heroes. Later, Zidane himself, according to a poll by the authoritative edition of the Journal du Dimanche, was named the most popular man in France in 2006, gaining 48 percent of the vote. Moreover, he was awarded the "Golden Ball", awarded to the best football player of the planet. As for Materazzi, he took part in the commercial and published a book, which has already been mentioned above. Together with this, the reputation of a dirty provocateur entrenched him to the end of his professional career. Over time, a sculpture appeared in Paris that captured the world-famous episode.