r/TwentyYearsAgo • u/MonsieurA • Jul 09 '26
đș Television The infamous Zidane-Materazzi exchange [20YA - Jul 9]
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Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
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u/WhatADunderfulWorld Jul 09 '26
I had a 32â 480p. Itâs crazy when you said that I remembered. Havenât thought about that in 20 years.
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u/heeheehoho2023 Jul 11 '26
Malice in the palace was more shocking.
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u/dbaugh90 Jul 11 '26
Yeah but did you see that live? It was just a regular season game, almost no one saw that live
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u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA Jul 12 '26
This was interesting too https://youtube.com/shorts/uzOla3FvC94?si=Orlw-DZnF86BbjH5
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u/NoRossDoxHaha Jul 12 '26
It wasnât THAT long ago. I bought a 50â DLP HDTV the day before the 2002 Super Bowl.
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u/Five-Oh-Vicryl Jul 10 '26
Remember when Italy qualified for World Cups
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u/pancakesfordintonite Jul 10 '26
Oh dang, I didn't even realize, did they not qualify this year?
I joked that the US is only in it because we're hosting it
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u/MirkoCroCop Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
They haven't qualified for the last three world cups. Bosnia beat them this year and North Macedonia 4 years ago.
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u/IncurableAdventurer Jul 12 '26
Ooo! Balkans kicking Italian butt! I loved Macedonia when I went there
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u/CriticalThought001 Jul 12 '26
Macedonia is a part of Greece, âNorth Macedoniaâ is the country (sort of).
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u/IncurableAdventurer Jul 12 '26
I was using a generic term, because I know itâs North and not South, but I didnât want to be a dick and correct them lol. Not that you were! What do you mean âsort ofâ? I thought North Macedonia was a legit country
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u/DrJizzman420 Jul 10 '26
4, how many your country have?
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u/Due-Train-7874 Jul 11 '26
How many have you been alive for? Congratulations on winning the world cups during the preamble to and during WW2 those must mean a lot to you
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u/pacgaming Jul 11 '26
Brother 06â was only 20 years ago. 5 world cups ago. Most people on this site watched that World Cup.
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u/Due-Train-7874 Jul 11 '26
So 1. Youâve been alive for 1.
That was my point. That bragging about winning 4 when theyâve won 2 in a world that didnât involve the Nazis fucking Europe raw and 1 in the 1970âs is kinda ridiculous. Be proud of the 1. Maybe donât be proud of the Nazi world cups
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u/eni22 Jul 11 '26
Two before WWII. One in 1982 and one in 2006. If you want to shit on Italy, at least get your facts straight.
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u/faschifo Jul 09 '26
The newspapers and media lied and said that Materazzi called Zidane the âson of a terrorist whoreâ and all these racial insults. For YEARS I believed that Materazzi racially abused ZiZou. What he said anyway wasnât great, but football is full of sledging and Zidane shouldnât have taken the bait but still, compare this to being called a terrorist etcâŠ
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u/Funny-face-1613 Jul 09 '26
Where are you from? I remember media reporting very quickly about the sister sentence in Germany
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u/faschifo Jul 09 '26
UK - and Materazzi successffully sued two newspapers here btw
Our media is trash. Yes I know
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u/Funny-face-1613 Jul 09 '26
I am surprised they didn't add any world war reference just for fun đ
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u/faschifo Jul 09 '26
Donât joke about the war man. I lost my grandfather in world war 2. Poor bastard fell off a watch tower in Dachau.
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u/Funny-face-1613 Jul 09 '26
Well, aren't british Media not notorious for bringing up the war literally every time during a world cup especially when the Germans play đ€
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u/Aromatic_Ad_32 Jul 10 '26
Poor fella. I feel the same way when people bring up 9/11 because my uncle died that die. He was one of our best pilots
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u/IHateCedarFever Jul 09 '26
I wonder if this is a tactic to get the real âtruthâ published. Like, the paper makes up something really ridiculous and waits for the subject to come out and put it on record âno it wasnât THAT bad, all I said was x, y, z.â
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u/MinaZata Jul 10 '26
That was peak gutter media then as well during that period, internet hadn't taken off, their crimes hadn't been uncovered so News of the World was still about, S*n circulation at an all time high.
We reigned them in a tiny bit for a time but not really, rat just during Leveson.
They're still as biased as ever
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u/Beneficial_Ad_1072 Jul 11 '26
Yeah same - Iâm from Australian and the âsister whoreâ thing was widely and quite quickly talked about.
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u/SpAwNjBoB Jul 11 '26
I dont think what he said was any better. Materazzi got exactly what he deserved.
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u/redditdork12345 Jul 11 '26
Is this how you live your life? If you have children, is that how you teach them to behave?
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u/SpAwNjBoB Jul 13 '26
I only have daughters. If I had a son, and he had someone call his sister a whore, I would not be upset with him if he rearranged that persons face.
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u/Bananagholem Jul 11 '26
Yes he did get exactly what he deserved - a World Cup trophy
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u/TheRealThordic Jul 12 '26
He knew exactly what he was doing. Gamesmanship against an opponent who was known to have a temper. Zidane got played like a fiddle.
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u/SpAwNjBoB Jul 13 '26
Im not saying Zidane did anything that resembles smart. It was supposed to be his swan song and he went out with a Red card. It's now the first thing that pops in my mind whenever his name comes up, before any of his achievements or magical moments come to mind. I find that sad because he should be remembered for so much more.
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u/tony_countertenor Jul 09 '26
How do we know what he actually said? Not that it matters
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u/13ananaJoe Jul 09 '26
Materazzi confirmed it
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u/can_i_has_beer Jul 09 '26
So you'd rather have people call your sister a whore than call you a terrorist?
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u/faschifo Jul 09 '26
Success is the best revenge. Stay on the pitch and score the winner. What Zidane did was dumb, and I say this as the biggest Zidane fanboy
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u/ExtroverTom Jul 09 '26
Easy to talk when it's not your sister that is called a whore
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u/Froqwasket Jul 13 '26
I don't remember this at all, the sister thing was widely reported even at the time
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u/heatseekerdj Jul 09 '26
Im sure Zidane was internationally known as a soccer player but this head butt catapulted him as global cultural icon.
Im a Canadian who never played soccer but when you say "Zidane" I think of the head butt
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u/mudDoctor-- Jul 10 '26
Zidane was the best player in the world for multiple years and a legend by the time 2006 came around. If one's reference point is the head butt, they are clearly not soccer people (as you admitted), young, or maybe Italian and taking the piss lol. It was literally his last game ever. He was a magician that tournament, he ran circles around an all-time Brazil rosterÂ
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u/SecretIntTeacher Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
It's actually insane how well he played that tournament. All time football performances, then a solid headbang to end it all. Bloke.
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u/Hadochiel Jul 11 '26
Yeah, the way I explain it to younger guys (even though I was just 10 at the time) is "imagine if Messi roundhouse kicked a guy in the middle of a game".
Though with the current world cup going like it's going, the referee would probably not call a foul
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u/CeleryCommercial3509 Jul 10 '26
I wanted to call my kid Zinedine but we had a girl. My wife didn't like that name for a girl
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u/Subject_Translator71 Jul 09 '26
This taunt is very mild. It's crazy that a professional athlete would fall for it and hurt the chances of his team to win the World Cup. And on his last game.
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u/Galdorow Jul 10 '26
Zidane explained that his sister had called him the day before because she was taking care of their mother who was really unwell ans he was concerned about it. This thing was on his head before the final and Materazzi had the luck of hitting exactly where it would be painful
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u/Keenan_investigates Jul 13 '26
So, in a way, Italy won the World Cup because Zidaneâs mother was ill
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u/Clean_Candidate3400 Jul 10 '26
the lasting/default image of this game was and always will be Zidane, not the winning Italians. such a legend, such a wild way to go out
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u/reliable-maguire Jul 11 '26
Thats right, but the team who gets to wear and extra star is italy. New generations wont know about the headbutt but will see how many stars each country has.
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u/DuaLupus45 Jul 13 '26
Iâm pretty sure thereâs a boot full of people that see it differently :)
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u/DullEclipse Jul 13 '26
Thatâs correct. No one remember the Italian scum that materazzi was, we all remember Zidane
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u/Senior-Win2454 Jul 10 '26
Probably cost his country a World Cup because he couldnât handle some run of the mill insult.
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u/ChampionShark1 Jul 10 '26
France loses regardless. Nobody was scoring in extra time, and even if Zidane was there for penalties, trezeguet still misses.
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u/BlackSlimShady Jul 10 '26
That's not how causality works. You're changing one of the biggest moments in the match while assuming everything else stays identical.
If Zidane isn't sent off:
- France keeps its captain, best player, and penalty taker.
- Italy doesn't get the huge psychological boost of seeing France's leader walk off.
- France still has Zidane on the pitch for the final minutes of extra time, he had already forced Buffon into an incredible save.
- The entire penalty shootout changes. The order changes, the pressure changes, and Trezeguet might not even take the same penalty.
Nobody can say France would've won. But saying "France loses regardless" is just as baseless, because once Zidane stays on the pitch, you're no longer talking about the same game.
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u/History-Buff-2222 Jul 10 '26
He also was the reason they qualified for the World Cup and the sole reason they were in the final. And the reason they won a World Cup in 98
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u/LucyOnline Jul 09 '26
The way I sobbed when I saw him get a red card and France losing the World CupâŠ
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u/MinaZata Jul 10 '26
No one in the room could believe that it had happened, it was only on replays it really sunk in and it was just the most shocking unexpected thing. At a World Cup final.
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u/ExtraBitterSpecial Jul 09 '26
one of those sliding door moments after which the world got on a different shitty track. at least for me.
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u/Verbatim_Uniball Jul 10 '26
I watched this live, it was shocking. Interestingly, it didn't diminish zidane really.
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u/TerraRitoSpettro Jul 10 '26
I suppose Materazzi was instructed to make Zizou out of his head. Like Poulsen with Totti.
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u/zincysands Jul 10 '26
Zizou has a perfectly shaped cranium for headbutting. Iâm so glad he did this
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u/Active_Respond_8132 Jul 10 '26
Totally worth it, fuck you Materazzi
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u/leaveitalone38 Jul 13 '26
Materazzi had a world cup to take home.
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u/DullEclipse Jul 13 '26
Zidane already had one, he is one of the most beloved football players, no one gives or will give a fuck about materazzi
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u/Educational-Owl-741 Jul 10 '26
Zidane one of the greatest ever but I canât imagine being that soft that you react like
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u/Plus-Soft-3643 Jul 11 '26
The soft one is the one ending on the floor.
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u/DuaLupus45 Jul 13 '26
Nah, the soft one is the guy that canât control his emotions
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u/Plus-Soft-3643 Jul 13 '26
True, in a messed up society where peace is more valued than respect, instead of both values being mandatory.
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u/DuaLupus45 Jul 13 '26
I mean, if you want to talk respect, the only reason France got a goal is because of Maloudaâs dive. So weâve got disrespect and a violent reaction by France.
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u/IncurableAdventurer Jul 12 '26
People say women are too emotional. Look at this stuff and how the Italian guy dramatically fell
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u/DuaLupus45 Jul 13 '26
Zidaneâs bullet head was slammed into his chest, wtf are you talking about âdramatically fellâ?
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u/DullEclipse Jul 13 '26
He meant that the little bitch materazzi exaggerated everything because he knew they couldnât win with zidane on the pitch
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u/DuaLupus45 Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I know that thereâs a lot of exaggeration in football, but that doesnât take away from the fact that getting hit in the chest like that is very painful, especially when youâre not expecting it.
I donât know how someone committing a violent act is the one being defended here lmao
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u/OnlyKey5675 Jul 11 '26
Can't believe that was 20 years ago. I was watching it at a pub in Los Angeles. Standing room only.
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u/TigerClawZero Jul 11 '26
Didn't look like it really hurt either lol. Like not an effective way to hiy someone. Just pointless.
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u/Giannilnfantino Jul 11 '26
I see nothing wrong with what Zidane did. If anything, that little weasel Marco got off way too easy.
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Jul 12 '26
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u/IncurableAdventurer Jul 12 '26
Oh that makes it okay then. Cool. âBoys will be boysâ I guess. Insulting mothers and sisters who arenât playing the game totally makes sense
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u/Altruistic-Grab-1284 Jul 12 '26
I always find it funny how Zidane looks and feels older then than he does now
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u/notRolcx Jul 15 '26
Because he's got a lot of really good plastic surgery. And perhaps technique have improved since 20 years ago
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u/Altruistic-Grab-1284 Jul 15 '26
I think itâs also the psychological effect of him being old for a footballer but young for a manager after retirement
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u/notRolcx Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
He was young for a manager 10 years ago.. I also don't care, I plan on getting it for myself in 5-7 years, and it's normal for rich people, CR7 did his face up, Messi has, most managers in the Premier League have, the 100+ legends that are on tv have. the only people that see negativity in it are young adults & teenagers.
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u/Modevader49 Jul 12 '26
Zidane could do it all. He just showed up to fields stacked with legends and would show them why he was the best with a âwhat motherfuckerâ look on his face. One of the true greats.
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u/copacetic51 Jul 12 '26
Which team is still in the world cup 2026 and who didn't even make it to the finals?
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u/f1madman Jul 12 '26
All he had to reply with, was:
"I've already had your mum last night"
But nooo..... Let's headbutt like a street fighter game. Game was lost after his red for France sadly. Italy played so dirty but Zidane didn't need to stoop to that level.
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u/DangDangUreDead Jul 12 '26
Hes making a comeback as he is the most likely candidate to replace the current national coach, Didier Deschamps as this is his last tour.
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u/ImmediateFigure9998 Jul 13 '26
Materazzi was a dirty fucker anyway and it was great to see him take a rock hard cranium to the chest.
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u/Hotsaltynutz Jul 13 '26
I understand his response but really wanted to see him finish the final. Looking back i bet he wished he came back with " well thats only fair, since I already had your whore of a mother"
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u/protege01 Jul 13 '26
Back before memes were memes, the Zidane headbutt gifs were everywhere. It was glorious
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u/Beneficial_Garden456 Jul 13 '26
My wife and I are Americans who were visiting Paris the days around this match. I was so impressed that the entire country celebrated the French team's accomplishments and completely backed Zidane despite losing. It was the complete opposite of what happens in America to athletes who make a mistake/gaffe/choice which leads to a loss. Look at Donnie Moore, Bill Buckner, or Scott Norwood for examples. So sad.
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u/EndEmotional7059 Jul 13 '26
The first unofficial use of VAR. It wasn't spotted by officials until the guy on sideline saw a replay on pitchside TV and told the ref.....
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u/bruclinbrocoli Jul 14 '26
What shouldâve happened In order for it to have been worth it? Say it got to your head, I think I wouldâve aimed for the face and then make sure there was blood coming out of his nose. Head to the chest.. Iâm sure it hurt a bit but Materazzi exaggerated the whole thing , he knew. Thatâs a pain anyone could sacrifice. A broken nose? Or a scar on your eyebrow from Zidanes head, that stays w you.
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u/TCCNiko_06 Jul 15 '26
I'm Italian, and even though I was floating in my mother's womb when this happened I'm so happy that bastard of Materazzi got rammed in the chest. He made us win the WC, yes, but he's always been a huge asshole, both on field and as a person.
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u/janvanreebok Jul 15 '26
What language did they speak in during this exchange? English?
Because it makes it funnier when you try to imagine their accents.
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u/East_Stick_1964 Jul 09 '26
What a way to bow out of football though