The wrath of a football maestro

The finals of the 2006 world cup in Germany, between Italy and France, was supposed to be the football equivalent of a mozart classic, but at the end of the game, won by Italy, people could only remember one thing - the moment of madness in which a football great, Zinedine Zidane, headbutted one of his opponents. Zinedine Zidane of France had attacked Marco Materazzi of Italy during play.

He said he was provoked beyond limits because Materazzi continously taunted him by saying that his mother and sister were of easy virtue. But Materazzi's story goes thus: "after the third clash, I frowned and he retorted: 'I will give you my shirt later.' I replied that I'd rather have his sister than his shirt." Zidane got a red card, France lost, and he never played competitive football again.