Zidane Headbutts Materazzi - Video and Images
Update: Zidane has spoken about the incident. Read Zidane’s comments on the headbutt incident. Read also: What Did Materazzi Say To Zidane?
It has been one of those World Cups - where the matches threaten to explode into brilliance but ultimately leave you wanting more.
Last night, Zidane and the World Cup final epitomised that feeling, with the master dazzling but ultimately unsuccessful and the match, which had threatened to be played fast and furious, ending into yet another cagey battle between two excellent teams.
Make no mistake about it though - this was football of the highest order.
But this is about Zidane and Materazzi, and the (already) infamous headbutt that will be remembered as the final page in Zidane’s glittering career (if he really has retired now).
Zidane - Materazzi “Headbutt” Incident
Here’s the story - what little we know of it:
Several minutes before the actual incident, Buffon was seen having gentle words with Zidane and patting his shoulder as if to calm him down. Whether it was a resolution to a previous disagreement or related to the Materazzi incident we don’t know, but what was obvious then was that Zidane was on edge with something the Italians had done and Buffon, his Juventus teammate from the time Zidane was there 5 years ago, was trying to put the fires out.
Then, a few minutes later, as Zidane and Materazzi jostled for a cross in the penalty area, Materazzi was clearly holding on to Zidane from behind and while that annoyed Zidane, his reaction was still controlled. Words were exchanged - banter between opponents and nothing more, it seemed. Zidane jogged past Materazzi towards the half-way line (as the cross had never come and the ball had been cleared) and Materazzi continued speaking.
Then came the fatal moment - Zidane spun around, walked a few steps towards Materazzi and and headbutted him in the chest with full force. You have to see the replays to believe it - Zidane’s strength is such that Materrazi, who is no lightweight himself, went down like a sack. I doubt that he milked it, but only because Zidane is such a strong guy and because the move looked like a flash of rage.
Few people saw it as almost everyone was following the action on the ball. Buffon was there, and so was Cannavaro (I think), who called the ref to the incident. As even the linesman hadn’t seen what had happened, there seemed to be no way to confirm what Buffon, Gattuso and Materazzi were saying. The fourth official then looked at video replays of the incident and after seeing the headbutt in full flow, informed the ref who had no hesitation in giving Zidane a straight red card.
The rest you already know - Zidane storming off, into the dressing room from where he was sure never to return, whether France won or lost (he didn’t come out to receive his medal either). The French crowd, who had not seen the replays, booed and whistled the Italians. In the end, Italy kept their nerve in the penalty shootout and France, without Vieira, Henry or Zidane to take penalties, put up a brave fight but Trezeguet’s miss (and Grosso’s converted penalty) meant that the Azzuri were crowned the World Champions.
And now the goodies.
Video
You can watch the video below, and download it as well using the link below the vid (it’s around 755K). The downloaded file will have a .flv extension and you’ll need an FLV player to watch it - I recommend using VLC Media Player (something that you should be using for your video needs anyways)
Images
Download the animated gif of the incident above - god knows why you’d want it, but it’s a powerful headbutt…
Zidane’s final match started off really well, the early goal followed with the French dictating the match right through the second half and into the first half of extra time
What the hell did he say? Imagine Zidane in a street fight - the man would snap a neck in seconds…
Say it ain’t so…video evidence is used to determine that Zidane really is at fault and he’s off.
- Zidane Comments On The Headbutt Incident
- What Did Materazzi Say To Zidane?
- How To Start a Fight During a Football Match (Kerlon Video)
- Revisiting the Zidane-Materazzi headbutt
- Euro 2008 Nike Video
Discussion - 15 Responses
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je suis des fans italiens mais pour dire la verite zidane avait tout le droit de faire ce qu’il a fait comme on a entendu que le joueur italien a insulte zidane en lui disant qu’il est un terroriste je ne crois pas qu’un homme comme zidane accepte d’etre insulte de cette facon.zidane on t’aime nous tes fans arabes de tout le monde on t’aime et bravo…(en repetant que je suis une fans de l’italie et je suis avec l’italie dans chaque coup de monde mais zidane avait raison)
the french dude says that he’s heard that Materazzi called Zidane a terrorist (throw-back to his Algerian roots?). If I remember, Zidane’s been riled up about this before as well.
The commenter then goes on to say that considering how proud Zidane is, he could not have accepted such an insult and that he was in his right to hit Materazzi.
—
Ok, now I agree with part of that - yes, Zidane’s free to beat the living crap out of Materazzi for whatever he says. But the problem is much more complicated than just simple insults…
1) Zidane has been baited like this before, this is a sport in which taunts between players happen and unfortunate as it is, it’s part of the game.
2) More importantly, Zidane is playing in the World Cup final. He’s the captain of the side. He’s also one of the main reasons that they are in the final.
As such, there’s a lot of responsibility on his head. To throw all that aside because of the bait Materazzi threw at him out of pride and self-respect is to say that he, at the end of it all, didn’t value the World Cup as much as his honour. And I don’t think that is fair, not to himself and not to his teammates.
A lot of people will defend Zidane, and if it were any other person who had done this we would have cried assault (this is, after all, pre-meditated assault - seeing that Lee Bowyer had to answer a police investigation for his part in the infamous bustup with Dyer, I wonder what actions will be taken against Zidane outside of the football world?).
He’s a great player, but he’s human. And he’s lost his head before. To lose it at this stage though, is unbelievable (and unexcusable).
Would love to find out what “really” happened…
Like, seriously, I think you were right the first time around - Materazzi nipple-crippled him. Knowing the effect of said insult, I’d say Zidane was right on with the headbutt (no. Really, it was fucking stupid). Oh, and by that account, your headbutt’s on the way, lover boy.
The thing is, materazzi said to zidane,”You r the son of a terrorist whore”. Previously, he called zidane’s sis names. How can u keep ur temper when zidane is not really a machine?? It’s true tht in a final match,u cant do this stupidity! However, zidane got the punishment,let’s hope materazzi will get his punishment for the bad comment.
The Zidane incident was a sad way to end the world cup. However, if a rude or racist comment was made by Mazzerazi, then I think (and hope) Zidane sent the right message across to the Italians. Even the world cup is not worth winning if it has racist slur. FIFA should ban Mazerazzi from playing in the world cup for life if it is true he made these remarks as a lesson to future players in Europe.
Europe should also take stern measures against players and officials who perpetrate this. It is the greatest disservice to the sport and smacks of inferiority complex, disguised. I remember Eto of Barcelona opted to stop playing a match in Spain but for the pleadings of teammates and officials. We all have to be serious about racisism of any kind in football!
This world cup incident finally presents the right platform
If the Italian really said anything provocative, the cup should be withdrawn and the guy banned forever. Africans are human beings.
This is equivalent to the US invading and bombing civilians in Afghanistan after 9/11
overkill…
Ahmed:
It would be more than overkill, it would be a travesty (not that I’m worried it would actually happen, because it is a silly premise…..withdraw the cup from a team who legitimately won it, because of assumed (but impossible to prove) indiscretions by one of its’ players.)
Whatever the reasoning for it, I think it difficult to dispute that Zidane’s dismissal had a negligible effect on the outcome of the Final. France, for all their dominance of play from half-time onwards, rarely if ever actually looked like they would score, and by the time Zidane blew an O-ring, both teams pretty much seemed resigned to penalties.
Zidane would have been one of the penalty takers no doubt, but he may have been the last on the list of 5 (the spot often reserved for the best penalty taker), and may not even have had a chance to take one, plus Trezeguet certainly would have been one of the penalty takers also, even with Zidane on the field, and even if we assume Zidane would have scored….and as we all know it was Treze-gol himself that missed the key spot kick.
But let’s get back to the reasoning for the head-butt…..there seems to be a large sector of people willing to jump to ZZ’s defense, and assume that Materazzi must have offered up the “mother of all insults”, under the assumptions that a) Materazzi is a racist plonker, and b) Zidane is a god, unjustifiably victimized by hard nuts like Materazzi, and acting out of character when he pinned the nut.
Although I can’t dispute that Materazzi does indeed have a messy disciplinary record, let’s not forget that Mr. Zidane has an equally if not more sordid disciplinary record, including 20 career red cards, including one previous occasion in the 1998 World Cup where he got a straight red for stamping on a Saudi player. There aren’t many players in the world who can claim that now, eh, two straight reds in their World Cup career ?!?
Does this reinforce the point that Zidane gets unduly victimized, or does it reflect the possibility that Zidane has a shorter temper than he should have, and that he blew in the Final out of sheer frustration because the Italians were shutting them down.
Who knows….who actually cares ?? We will never know the real truth methinks, despite the best efforts of that BBC lip reader, because it will always be a question of “who do you believe ?”.
Materazzi has admitted to saying something, but who knows what Zidane said…there are always two sides to every story. I am amazed by the number of people willing to jump to conclusions about this, and state as fact something which is conjecture at best…..even the BBC, where a lot of the drivel about this seems to come from, have published two distinctly different accounts of what Materazzi was supposed to have said.
I have news for you….Italy are the legitimate World Champions…..get used to it, and get over it. Zidane was a supreme talent, one of the best players ever, but also one of the more volatile ones. He’s retired now, let’s move on.
bla bla bla…..
sometime loosers should accept it….
the captain beahaved badly and the team lost…
and about the racist phrase > there is not proof of what has been said.
neither Zizou nor materazzi said anything about it, and all world discussing on a hypotetic phrase suggested by a tabloid specialized in gossip it is simply ridicoulus and has nonsense. And now from a game is startin a political-religion cruzade in order to defend i really don t know what.
i am italian and personally i never liked materazzi playing..too many fauls and no nice to see
but if anybody wanna be honest should also deny the fury and rage from zizou mother and his football mate…
it is only game !!!
The whole issue is a clash of cultures.
MAYBE insults to ones mother/sister is part of life for Italians and not a big deal. But for many cultures women are too precious to be insulted wheather directly or in a football game.
After all many italians view racist comments in the Italian game as normal in football.
If I were Zizu I would have gladly given that guy at least 10 upper cuts for disrespecting my mother.
If it is acceptable and normal in Italy to insult mothers/sisters it does not mean that the whole world should accept that.
BRAVO MONSIUER ZIDANE !
What Zizou did was not regretable. He did what any man would do in the face of racism, he is a man after all. The comments made by Materazzi was racially motivated, and thats a fact after many professional lip readers confirmed the words. Many people in the world don’t know what is it like to be a victim of racism. There are somethings that wounds deeper than a punch or a kick and I belive that people who know how it feels like to be a victim of racism will truly understand and forgive Zizou for his actions, if not wish him to headbutt harder. Its not about the rules of Fifa, or on the field, or the red cards, what kind of a man can take those harsh racial insults and pretend like nothing happened? And of course Materazzi would deny to what he said. He is not stupid and he knows the consequences of his words and the kind of eruption it would create. He is protecting his own nose in denying his words. We all know what Materazzi said, its about how Fifa will decide to handle the situation. Screw the expectations from fans for Zizou. He dosn’t have to do what anyone expects him to do, and he dosnt have to kiss anyones ass.
In my opinion is Zidane should do this appreciated action but not in the spot, he should wait till the end of the match and after getting the world cup in hand he should punch him in the same ground. His on the spot treatment spoils France to get world cup and also damaged his goodwill also.
For example the India’s Master Blaster SACHIN TENDULKAR was insulted so many times by the opposition. But he NEVER lost his concentration and punishes him by hitting his bowling, and he scores more runs in his bowling. That is the GENTLEMAN punishment.
This is the one way of technique to get loose the temper of the main player and push him to do mistake.
I feel so sad for zidane… Oh…! What a match….!
i think dat was a yellow card offence
i hear materazzi maybe coming to tottenham. would love to c the north london derby then. im sure the frenchman arsene wenger would join in
[…] their opponents verbally - Marco Materazzi for one called Zidane’s sister a whore, and caused the most memorable incident of the 2006 World Cup. Others do it by elbow smashing their opponents (Ben Thatcher) or scything down opponents out of […]
dear zidane
how ru i hope every one he is a good life in(2007)
afetr that we are not a good condition then i talk u one things i li ke u from the heart