Italy-France (2006) : Remembering Zidane’s Head-butt

Zinedine Zidane will forever be remembered as one of the greatest football players in the world, but his last major outing in his career was a nightmare. The former Juventus and Real Madrid legend that had won three FIFA player of the year awards and a Ballon d’or was sent out with a red card in the final of the 2006 world cup that pitted France against Italy on  9 July 2006 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.   He was shown the red card after he head-butted Italy's Marco Materazzi.
During the match in Berlin, Zidane put France ahead with an excellent penalty kick which appeared to be almost effortless. Yet 19 minutes later, the Italian Materazzi was able to equalize with a spectacular header. The match went on into extra time, with the scores level at 1:1. Italy would go on to win the match during a penalty shoot-out, 5:3. They would become the World Champions. But Italy’s victory was not the talk of the day. Rather, everyone was focused on that act of violence that was to mar the whole of the 2006 World Cup.
What a shocking moment that was. Few had seen it when it happened as the play was on the other side of the pitch. But still the French player earned himself a red ca...