Zinedine Zidane is now as famous a manager for Real Madrid as he was a player for the club and the France National Team. He is also infamous for ending his international career with a headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final.
It has been over a decade since that incident, but it's clear it still weighs on Zidane's mind in terms of both what it means for his legacy and the example it sets for young fans. Of course, this is to be expected when you ram your head into another man's solar plexus with a few million people watching.
That's not to say this headbutt wasn't ever so slightly...asked for. Marco Materazzi has admitted he "used stupid words" in an exchange with Zidane before the headbutt. He is rumored to have made an off-color remark about Zidane's mother or sister, depending who you ask.
All of that aside, Zinedine Zidane insists that he does "not feel proud" of the headbutt.
In a recent interview with Telefoot, Zidane reviewed some of the key moments of his career and had this to say about the infamous headbutt:
"I am not proud of this gesture – for all of these young people, all of these coaches, all of these volunteers who make football a different thing. But it is part of my career, my life. It is one of those things that are not pleasant, we must accept, that we must digest."
Zidane is not crying about that headbutt. He doesn't feel that bad. (Photo: Telefoot)
In the same interview, Zidane also reacts to a more bittersweet memory: that of his father. In a clip shown during the interview Zidane's father, Smail Zidane, can be heard saying, "I am not ashamed to tell him I love him, the grand children, too. When I phone them I tell them, 'I love you.' I said it before, I say it now, and I’ll say it again."
The full interview in Zidane's native French is below.
Le document exceptionnel à voir en intégralitéhttps://t.co/LYS3sCMMVg
— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) September 3, 2017
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