New Delhi: Italian defender Marco Materazzi has admitted he insulted Zinedine Zidane before the France captain headbutted him.
However, he denied reports that he called Zinedine Zidane a 'terrorist' according to the Italian daily Gazetta dello sport.
Zidane was sent off in the 110th minute of extra-time in the World Cup final on Sunday and Italy went on to win on penalties.
"I held his shirt for a few seconds, he turned to me, looked at me from top to bottom with utmost arrogance and said: 'If you really want my shirt, I'll give it to you afterwards'. I answered him with an insult. It was the type of insults that we've heard before so many times on the pitch, and sometimes we don't even notice it," Materazzi said.
"What's sure is that I never called him a terrorist: I am not cultured and I don't even know what an islamic terrorist is. My sole terrorist is her...," added Materazzi pointing at his 10-month-old daughter.
"I certainly did not talk about Zidane's mother. For me, mothers are sacred," he concluded.
Le Corriere della Serra, another Italian daily, wrote that Materazzi would not have been so insensitive to have insulted Zidane's mother since he lost his own when he was only 14.
Ever since Zidane's red card the world has been wondering why he decided to headbutt his opponent.
Replays of the incident seemed to show Materazzi saying something to Zidane, and now the Italian has admitted insulting the Frenchman.
Zidane is yet to comment on what happened, but his agent has said that it was a "very serious" insult.
Comments
0 comment