On This Day – 9th July
It was on this day back in 2006 that Zinedine Zidane played the last competitive match of his career.
Every neutral fan supported France when their own country went out of the 2006 World Cup. They all wanted to see Zidane lift the golden trophy and see the Frenchman end his career on a high.
Eight years before, Zidane scored twice as France beat holders Brazil 3-0 on home soil at the 1998 World Cup Final. He was the hero of the nation three years later, joined Real Madrid for a world record fee of £45.8 million and became one of Madrid’s ‘Galacticos’.
With a little over five minutes of the match gone, Zidane’s team mate Florent Malouda was brought down in the penalty area by Marco Materazzi. More about that Italian defender shortly!
There was only going to be one man who was going to take the penalty and that was Zidane. He ran up and chipped a penalty down the middle of the goal. His former Juventus team mate Gianluigi Buffon dived to his right and watched on as the ball hit the underside of the bar, bounced over the line and hit the bar again.
Materazzi powered in an equaliser after 19 minutes, heading in a corner from Andrea Pirlo. The scored stayed at 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Five minutes into the second half of Extra Time, Zidane was sent off in one of the most iconic moments in World Cup Final history.
As Zidane jogged past Materazzi, the Italian said something offensive to him. Zidane turned around, thought for a second before walking forward and headbutted Materazzi square in the chest.
Neither the referee or his two assistants noticed the incident, but the fourth official witnessed it. He told the referee Horacio Elizondo what he saw and a red card was given.
The footage of Zidane walking off the pitch and past the World Cup trophy which was on a plinth on the touchline is ingrained in the minds of those who watched the game.
The game ended 1-1 and Italy won the shootout 5-3. One of the Italians who scored was a certain Marco Materazzi.
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