# Zidane headbutting Materazzi. **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 29, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929 "2010-06-29T14:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/1 "2010-06-29T14:39:10Z")
Do we know what exactly Materrtazzi said ? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/2 "2010-06-29T14:46:17Z")
AFAIK no, neither one has wanted to say. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/3 "2010-06-29T15:07:45Z")
Materazzi [has](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article2287327.ece). > [@](#): > > Materazzi replied “I’d prefer your whore of a sister”, using the Italian word “puttana”, meaning whore or tart. “I thought the words were slightly different, but either way too much importance has been put on this incident,” Lippi said. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/4 "2010-06-29T15:32:11Z")
:eek: How come FIFA didn’t penalise Materazzi ? Why was the italian media silent on this ? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/5 "2010-06-29T15:41:13Z")
Penalize him for what? I mean, he could have gotten a yellow card for “unsporting conduct”, but the referee didn’t hear what he said - and players say equally bad stuff to each other in every match. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/6 "2010-06-29T18:19:45Z")
The latest version I heard - all rumour though - is that during his time at Juventus Lippi (Italy’s coach at the 2006 world cup) got it on with Zidanes wife, or at least knew somebody else did. Matterazzi is suposed to have said something about him needing Lippi to satisfy his wife. Probably just a rumour, but a good one 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/7 "2010-06-29T19:02:50Z")
> [@indian](#): > > :eek: > > How come FIFA didn’t penalise Materazzi ? > > Why was the italian media silent on this ? What’s with the :eek:? I’ve heard far more offensive things said in high school pick-up games. And making fun of the female loved ones of an overly sensitive opponent can be a very effective strategy, as France learned 4 years ago. Materazzi is the one probably laughing to this day. His words may be the reason that Italy has 4 world championships instead of 3. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/8 "2010-06-29T19:18:35Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > What’s with the :eek:? I’ve heard far more offensive things said in high school pick-up games. And making fun of the female loved ones of an overly sensitive opponent can be a very effective strategy, as France learned 4 years ago. Materazzi is the one probably laughing to this day. His words may be the reason that Italy has 4 world championships instead of 3. The match went to penalties, and David Trezeguet would have been taking one regardless of whether Zidane was available. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/9 "2010-06-29T23:22:28Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The match went to penalties, and David Trezeguet would have been taking one regardless of whether Zidane was available. yea but if I remember correctly France had been the dominant force in the match up until that red card. I remember thinking that it had cost them the game. I don’t think it would’ve gone to PKs had all that not occurred. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/10 "2010-06-30T18:30:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The match went to penalties, and David Trezeguet would have been taking one regardless of whether Zidane was available. To add to what **PopeJewish** said, France had to play most of the OT with 10 men, and they still dominated Italy. So my point was that France could have won before penalties. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/11 "2010-06-30T18:42:31Z")
Zidane was sent off in the [110th minute](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4991652.stm). France only had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/12 "2010-06-30T19:47:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Zidane was sent off in the [110th minute](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4991652.stm). France only had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men. Do you think the penalty shootout would have played out in exactly the same fashion had Zidane not been sent off? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/13 "2010-06-30T19:48:31Z")
Actually, unseen footage reveals the [real reason](http://i46.tinypic.com/2znpmqa.jpg) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/14 "2010-06-30T20:04:08Z")
> [@ekweizn](#): > > Do you think the penalty shootout would have played out in exactly the same fashion had Zidane not been sent off? Yes. David Trezeguet was the only player who missed, and he would have been taking a penalty regardless of whether Zidane was there. ---
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/15 "2010-06-30T20:40:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Yes. David Trezeguet was the only player who missed, and he would have been taking a penalty regardless of whether Zidane was there. So, no chance that Zidane getting sent off affected his teammates or the opposing team in any way. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/16 "2010-06-30T20:47:29Z")
:rolleyes: I’m sure it _affected_ them. However, trying to guess what effect it had is a fruitless exercise. Obviously, if you replayed the match and Zidane didn’t headbutt anyone it would probably end differently- but then, you could replay the match a hundred times and never get the same result, even if you didn’t change anything. All we know is that the Italians won on penalties, and that the only player to miss was Trezeguet, who wasn’t taking one because Zidane was out. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/17 "2010-06-30T23:20:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Zidane was sent off in the [110th minute](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4991652.stm). France only had to play the last 10 minutes with 10 men. My bad. Memories can be deceptive. I was certain it was in the 1st OT. But it’s still 10 minutes down 1 man (who arguably happens to be one of the top 5 players in soccer history). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zidane-headbutting-materazzi/544929/18 "2010-07-01T02:34:49Z")
Top 5 of his generation. Top 5 in history is a bit much, I think- but they dominated the final 12-odd minutes even without him, and he was never the sort of player who scored by the bucketload.