DEEP into extra time in the 2006 World Cup final, France star Zinedine Zidane planted a firm headbutt into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi. The force sent Materazzi flying backward and Zidane’s stellar career ended with a red card.
Zidane faces Italy again on Friday, this time in a suit as France’s coach. The Nations League game at Stade de France will be his first at home since taking charge of Les Bleus.
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Although 20 years have passed, the headbutt incident remains one of soccer’s most iconic and talked-about moments.
“The images always remind me of it, they’re shown over and over again,” Zidane said Thursday at a pre-match news conference. “But luckily that’s not all I ever did and there are other (images) that are nicer.”
Zidane still does not regret what he did.
“They’re not regrets. It’s part of my career. I’m not proud of what happened, but you can’t always do just good things,” he said. “We’re all on a journey in life, where (sometimes) you do things that aren’t the best. But now it’s about what comes next.”
Zidane never played again after the 2006 final and, at the time, thought it was the last thing he would be remembered for with France.
“Yes, because I didn’t know I was going to become coach. So for me it was the end, and I can say things were very, very difficult,” Zidane recalled. “I’m ready to come back and coach the France team, I want to give everything I have.”
Appointed in late July as successor to Didier Deschamps, ex-captain Zidane has guided France to back-to-back away wins. Now he has the chance to complete a hat-trick of victories in front of Les Bleus faithful.
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Despite losing captain Kylian Mbappe to injury, France have maintained their winning start, all thanks to their squad depth and talent across positions.
Like France, four-time World Cup winners Italy are also managed by a former player – Roberto Mancini – who is back in the job for the second time. Mancini’s first game back in charge ended in Roman jeers, but the Azzurri responded in style with an emphatic win in their second game.
Friday’s match is expected to be played in front of what will be a sell-out crowd of close to 80,000 fans at the national stadium north of Paris.
So, can Italy build on their dazzling display or will France give Zidane more reasons to rejoice?
The UEFA Nations League was founded in 2018 to reduce the number of meaningless friendlies and give nations competitive matches against top-ranked teams.
In this competition, countries from across Europe participate in a league structure which features promotion and relegation.
France are on top of this group with six points after identical 1-0 wins over Turkiye and Belgium.
Italy, on the other hand, are second-to-last with three points after losing 2-0 to Belgium and thrashing Turkiye 4-1.
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They last met in a Nations League group match in November 2024.
France defeated Italy 3-1 in Milan then, with a double from Adrien Rabiot and a Guglielmo Vicario own goal. Andrea Cambiaso netted the consolation goal for the Italians.
