“Not that, Zinedine. Oh no. Oh no, not that. Not today, not now, not after everything you’ve done…”. Whether Zinédine Zidane likes it or not, his history with the France team will always be marked by his "headbutt" in the final of the 2006 World Cup, commented on by the late Thierry Gilardi.
So twenty years later, when it was time to return to the Nazionale, but this time as coach of the Blues, Friday October 2, he did not escape questions on this subject. But the former Juventus Turin player prefers to keep the positive from his history with Italy.
Sunday July 9, 2006, Berlin. We play the 110th minute of play in overtime of a World Cup final where the Italians and French are neck and neck (1-1), notably with Zinédine Zidane opening the score in the 7th minute of play.
Marco Materazzi, who then equalized (19th), came to provoke Zidane in the center of the field, the Frenchman gave him a headbutt which earned him an exclusion. “The images always remind me of it, because it plays in a loop everywhere,” regretted the French coach at a press conference the day before the match on Thursday.
Regrets about these images which went viral, but not about the gesture, even twenty years later, and without having spoken to Materazzi since. "Fortunately, I didn't just do that, and there are other nicer images, I'm thinking of the more positive ones. I have no regrets. I'm not proud of what happened, but it's part of a journey. You can't only do beautiful things," adds Zinédine Zidane.
For him, Italy is not just about this headbutt in the final. Before that, he had rather experienced victory against the Squadra Azzurra, notably in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup, then in the final of Euro 2000.
He mainly played five years at Juventus Turin, between 1996 and 2001, winning two Italian championship titles, and a Ballon d'Or in 1998. "Juve was quite special for me, perhaps that's where I became an important player," he says.
In Turin or in the whole boot, "he remains an icon, according to Claudio Palmieri, Italian journalist. Not as much as Maradona, who is immense in Naples, but he is one of the greatest players we saw in Serie A, at a time when it was a very big championship, and he is very respected for that".
Giulia Zonca, a Turin-based journalist for La Stampa, goes even further: "He is seen as a God in Italy, he is a legend who made the history of football. At the end of his career, I believe he was more revered in Italy than in France, perhaps less now because he is the France coach."
And the headbutt against Materazzi did not alter his image. “We don’t think about him for that, we keep the party images from that day,” continues the journalist. "It may even have had a positive impact on its image. Italy is a country that loves 'drama', its header is iconic, it's a human gesture, because Materazzi's provocation was not beautiful. And on the psychological aspect, perhaps that allowed Italy to win this final", observes Claudio Palmieri.
This gesture even further motivated Zinédine Zidane to become coach of the Blues. Did this missed ending make him want to extend the story with the France team? “Yes!”, he responded directly on Thursday.
"Except that in 2006, I didn't know that I was going to become a coach. So for me, it was the end, and it was very complicated. But I believe in life, in positive things, and today I am here, I want to give my all." In this context, his first Marseillaise at the Stade de France as coach should be loaded with emotions.
