No doubt one of the most iconic moments in the history of football is the headbutt of Zinedine Zidane to Marco Materazzi in the final of the 2006 Germany World Cup between Italy and France. There were 10 minutes left in extra time when the now possible new coach of PSG unexpectedly struck the Italian defender in the chest, so referee Horacio Elizondo showed him the red card.
This expulsion demotivated the French team, which lost 5-3 in the penalty shootout, thus the Italians raised their fourth World Cup. It also meant a sad ending for the brilliant career of 'Zizou', who had already announced that he was going to retire after the tournament.
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However, this story could have been different. Zidane himself acknowledged in an interview with the French program "Telefoot" that there was a teammate who could have stopped this action. "I think Lizarazu is the only one who could have restrained me at that moment. It would have been important for him to be with me, by my side, but you can't go back in time. I'm not proud of what I did, but it's part of my career."
Remember that, according to Materazzi's words, what caused that violent reaction from the Real Madrid idol was an insult to his sister. "He said to me: 'I will give you my shirt later.' I responded that I preferred his sister over his shirt," he revealed to Italian journalist Nicolo de Devitiis.
Why didn't Lizarazu play in the 2006 Germany final?
Bixente Lizarazu, the man who could have prevented Zidane from hitting Materazzi, retired in 2005 at the age of 36, so he was not called up for the 2006 Germany World Cup. Together they became champions of the 1998 World Cup in France and of Europe in the tournament in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2000. Their friendship was born when they coincided at Girondins de Bordeaux between 1992 and 1996.