Zinedine Zidane Opens Up on Infamous Headbutt on Marco Materazzi

• Former Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane has revealed that he was not happy with the 2006 incident that saw him sent off in a World Cup final
• Zidane marked his last game professionally against Italy by getting sent off for a rough challenge on Marco Materazzi
• The game also saw Zidane score a wonderful panenka penalty past Gianluigi Buffon but Italy won the World Cup on penalties

France legend Zinedine Zidane has for the first time talked about the incident that rocked his last-ever appearance as a professional footballer.

Zidane, ended his glorious career in sour fashion during the 2006 World Cup final after he was red-carded for headbutting Marco Materazzi.

France were playing Italy in the final that was held in Berlin, Germany. Les Bleus were hoping to reclaim the title that they won in 1998 and they started the game emphatically.

Luka Modric mocked Mohamed Salah after Real Madrid beat Liverpool in Champions League final

Football

Zidane opened the scoring for France with an audacious panenka penalty to set France on its way only for Materazzi to equalize for the Azurri minutes later. Zidane was sent off in extra time and Italy went on to win the World Cup on post-match penalties.

The Daily Mail, via the Telefoot reports thats Zidane quipped that he wasn't proud of that moment.

I'm not at all proud of what I did, but it's part of my past.

The sending off by centre referee Horacio Elizondo saw Zidane retire from football. He had initially planned to quit after the World Cup but the red card saw him do so on bad terms.

He went on to become a successful head coach winning three consecutive Champions League titles with Real Madrid. He was the first-ever manager to achieve such a feat.

Qatar intends to mount the Zinedine Zidane statue in this year's World Cup

Takehiro Tomiyasu's salary, contract dating, net worth, age, stats, and more

Football

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Qatar is aiming to put a controversial statue of Zinedine Zidane's notorious 2006 World Cup final headbutt of Marco Materazzi on display for this year's tournament.

The bronze monument has been part of the country's culture for nearly 10 years, though not without controversy.

In 2013 when it first went up on the capital Doha's seafront, the five-metre high sculpture showing the French legend confronting the Italian defender went up for less than four weeks before being taken down as a result of protests that it breached Islamic laws on idolisation.