Revealed: The disgusting abuse that sparked Zidane's fury
By BETH HALE and PETER ALLEN, Daily Mail 22:03pm 10th July 2006
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It is the question on every football fan's lips. What did
the Italian footballer say to prompt Zinedine Zidane's
shocking headbutt in the closing moments of Sunday's World
Cup final?
The answer, it has emerged, was a vile stream of racial and
personal abuse.
First Marco Matterazzi called the French star the Italian
equivalent of 'n*****', and then insulted both his mother
and his Muslim background by saying he is the 'son of a
terrorist whore'.
The episiode dominated fan debate on the internet, sparking
heated conversations and even a cheeky *'get sent off like
Zidane' game <http://tonaz.altervista.org/zidane.html>* as
fans taunted one another.
The revelation will prove even more of an embarrassment to
football's governing body than the ironic award of player of
the tournament to French captain Zidane.
To millions of television viewers around the world it
appeared as if the two sportsman were enjoying a jocular
exchange, until the moment Zidane lowered his head and sent
his opponent plummeting to the ground.
With the help of an expert lip reader the Daily Mail was
able to decipher what led to the violent outburst.
First defender Marco Materazzi spoke in Italian - a language
understood by Zidane who once played for Italian side
Juventus - grabbed his opponent and told him 'hold on, wait,
that one's not for a n***** like you.'
It is not clear whether the Italian was referring to the
ball heading their way or his own groping of Zidane.
The expert, who can lip read foreign languages phonetically
and translate with the aid of an Italian interpreter, was
unable to see what Zidane said in reply.
But she saw that as the players walked forward Materazzi
said: 'We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore.'
Then, just before the headbutt, he was seen saying,: 'So
just f*** off.'
The translation tallies with the words of Zidane's agent who
said the player had told him the Italian made a 'very
serious' comment.
'Zinedine didn't want to talk about it but it will all come
out in the next week,' said Alain Miglaccio.
'He is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on
Sunday night something exploded inside him.'
To some observers who saw Zidane floor his opponent with
nine minutes to go, that description might appear an
understatement.
The 34-year-old midfielder was red carded in a move that did
his side no favours as they went on to lose the final on
penalties.
*Golden Ball award*
But shame was replaced with the glow of the Golden Ball
award for the tournament's best player.
For FIFA the award - voted for by journalists before half
time in the final game - will be an unwelcome embarrassment.
The organisation has been battling to outlaw violence on the
pitch - as well as racism. But with a typically-Gallic shrug
of the shoulders Zidane's home nation gave him a hero's
welcome - led by President Jacques Chirac.
The politician was positively beaming as he chatted with the
player, who announced he would retire after the
championship, before a lunch at the Elysee palace in Paris.
For a brief moment it even appeared the sportsman, who had
been playing in what was to be his last game as a
professional player, was demonstrating just how he executed
that infamous headbutt.
With a somewhat untimely tribute, Chirac praised the player
as a 'virtuoso' and 'a genius of world football'.
He continued: 'You are also a man of heart, commitment,
conviction. That's why France admires and loves you.'
Earlier he said: 'I would like to express all the respect
that I have for a man who represents at the same time all
the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human
qualities one can imagine, and who has honoured French sport
and, simply, France.'
French manager Raymond Domenech also played down the fuss
about the head butt - saying Zidane was the victim of rough
treatment from his Italian opponents throughout the final in
Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
The player is fiercely proud of his family?s Arab background
- and his mother who struggled with almost no money to bring
up five children.
The family were originally from the village of Taguemoune,
in the remote hills of Algeria.
The married father-of-four describes himself as a
'non-practising Muslim'.
Zidane?s father and mother, Smaïl and Malika, were almost
unimaginably poor.
They first moved to Paris where there was little work and
even less money and so the family moved to Marseille, on the
south coast.
It was there that they struggled desperately to bring up
five children on a tough council estate. His background
means this is not the first time Zidane has endured racial
slurs.
Soon after France?s 1998 World Cup win - when Zidane scored
two goals - Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the Front National,
was complaining about the racial origins of the France team,
singling out Zidane as 'a son of French Algeria'.
His comment was carefully loaded. The implication was Zidane
was either a colonial lackey or a traitor to the country of
his father's birth.
It is well known that Zidane's skill is paired with the
potential for rage, most notably when he headbutted Jochen
Kientz of Hamburg during a Champions League match in 2000,
earning him a five-match suspension.
Defender Materazzi was keeping his mouth firmly closed
yesterday.
But his father Giuseppe, said: 'I spoke with my son very
briefly on the telephone after the match.
'He didn't tell me what Zidane had said and he just said
that I should enjoy this moment and he would tell me
everything that happened when he got back.
'He told me that he had been provoked as he has been
throughout his career and throughout the last two years.'
According to reports in France, Zidane's mother is seriously
ill at the moment and had to go to hospital on Sunday morning.
Other French players have told journalists that their
colleague was particularly sensitive because of this
mother's condition.
The lauding of Zidane as a hero in France and his naming by
FIFA as player of the tournament is in stark contrast to the
treatment experienced by England players Wayne Rooney and
David Beckham after they were sent off at critical junctures
in different World Cups.
Rooney is said to have been widely regarded by members of
the FA hierarchy as having acted petulantly before being red
carded in England's match against Portugal during this
year's tournament.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter also backed the referee who sent
off Rooney, adding: "The referee was within touching
distance of the players and he took the decision according
to what he witnessed."
David Beckham was widely criticised after his sending-off
against Argentina in the 1998 finals for kicking out at
Diego Simeone. He was on the receiving end of abuse from
fans wherever he played for Manchester United for a
considerable period afterwards.
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