A lot has been said over the last couple of days about the now infamous head-butt given out by Zidane to Materazzi.

There are reports that Materazzi’s insults were personal and racist, while Materazzi says he didn’t say anything like that at all.

But watching the incident again on this video, you can tell that once the insult has been said that Zidane had made up his mind to pole-axe the Italian. He runs past Materazzi to get a good enough distance, turns and then attacks the defender.

And in this exclusive angle, you can actually see Zidane smiling before he issues the head-butt!

I’ve always know Materazzi was a dirty defender – hell, he was sent off several times at his brief time at Everton! But as this video shows he doesn’t mind trying to hack a players head off!

Looking at the clips of Shevchenko I’m not surprised he’s moved to the Premiership!

But on a serious note who is the real villain here?

Yes, if Materazzi said something which was racist or personal then I suppose Zidane had a right to retaliate but with a vicious head-butt?

And doesn’t taunting happen all the time on the football pitch? Ian Wright has talked many times about opposing defenders would wind him up but that just motivated him to score goals. And I’m sure the insults Wrighty received were personal and occassionally racist… (you can ask the ‘Great Dane’ about that one).

In the grand scheme of things you could hardly say that Zidane cost France the World Cup – he got sent off when penalties were inevitable and the only miss France actually had was a shot that hit the underside of the bar from David Trezeguet who would have been certain to take a spot kick anyway.

Zidane probably thought “F*ck this, the Italian twat has been taunting he throughout the whole game with racism and it looks like it’s penalties anyway so I’ll pole-axe this m*therf*cker and show him…”

People have said that Zidane has a tendency to go over the top and although it’s reported that he’s had 14 red cards in his career I cannot really think of an incident in recently times that was that violent.

In fact I can’t think of any.

But the question is regardless of what was said – did Zidane have the right to attack another player on the football pitch?

Surely if that was the case then all hell would break loose every week across the footballing world!

Click on the image to play the game!

I’ve just found the Zidane: The Headbutt Game so now you can re-live the lunacy that is headbutting an opponent in the World Cup Final!

This is brilliant – Zidane Kicks Ass: Ghetto style!

Credit to Juzzadona for the link! 🙂

And does anyone actually know why Zidane head-butted Materazzi yet?

What Can You Say About That?

What a crazy World Cup Final! I fancied the Italians before the game but it was the French who finished the game stronger and probably should have won the game before penalties. But what most people will talk about is the moment of sheer madness from Zinedine Zidane in the 110th minute.

After a seemingly nothing incident with Marco Materazzi the French captain just turned to the tall Italian defender and gave him a vicious headbutt to the chest!

Unbelievable!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw the incident – totally insane!

And the more you see it the worse it gets!

It is debatable whether Zidane’s absence would have made a difference to the penalties but he would have surely taken one and we’ll never know if it would have changed the outcome.

The fact is that the Italians are now World Champions which is an amazing achievement considering all the turmoil that’s happening back home.

And Fabio Cannavaro lifts the World Cup after winning his 100th cap for Italy.

And for Thierry Henry another major final ends in cruel defeat.

First he suffered to the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League Final after leading for so long with 10 men and then tonight he lost out on his second World Cup trophy on penalties.

The 2005/2006 season ends in despair for Titi.

And I have to say I haven’t been a fan of Raymond Domenech’s tactics used for Franch and Thierry Henry throughout the tournament.

Henry has been so isolated in every World Cup game it was untrue. Because of Zidane’s age and lack of pace he never got close enough to Titi to give him any real support and the wide players Ribery and Malouda are very average players.

France really missed a player like Pires who would have given France so much more creativity in a 5 man midfield.

Ronaldo: England’s Scapegoat…

As you will have noticed everyone hates Ronaldo. The internet have websites hating him, the press are castrating him, and there is a big e-mail campaign to ruin his chances of winning the young player of the tournament by voting the other players over him.

The hate campaign after the England v Portugal match is just ridiculous.

So what has he actually done?

He got Rooney sent off.
Sorry, but the short-tempered scouser did that himself. I don’t think Ronaldo got him to stamp on Carvalho RIGHT in front of the referee.

He ran to the referee.
Well firstly almost EVERY team at the World Cup surrounds the referee when a major incident happens – Manchester United are the masters of it. If Ballack stamped on one of the England players I’d be surprised if they wouldn’t ask the referee to send him off.

He winked to the bench.
Well Ronaldo is an arrogant player. He was probably caught up in the moment – you are playing for your country in front of millions of fans worldwide.

He dives.
Yes, Ronaldo dives. We all know that. We’ve all known that for a long time. But he isn’t the only one – the Italians dive, most of the Portugese dive, the French aren’t squeaky clean and Michael Owen is one of the worst divers I have ever seen. But if he gets penalties against Argentina then it’s ‘alright’.

He’s a pretty boy.
Well I can’t comment on that one.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Ronaldo and being an Arsenal fan I have a natural hatred towards him – not as much as Van Nistelrooy but that’s another story.

I find it amazing that somehow people persecute Ronaldo for somehow ruining Englands World Cup Dreams.

I watched the Portugal game with a group of friends and couple of them were United fans. Anyway, every time he got the ball they would, well to say they were slagging him off would be an understatement.

Correct me if I’m wrong but has he even said he wants to move to Madrid?

And last night the constant booing throughout the game was over the top.

In the past Vieira, Henry and Cesc have been linked to Barca and Real but we Arsenal fans haven’t singled them out until we know what’s exactly going on.

Well I know Ronaldo isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but if the England team actually showed half the passion Ronaldo does then England wouldn’t have disappointed AGAIN.

The bottom line is that without Rooney losing his temper yet again Ronaldo isn’t an issue. So instead of painting Wayne Rooney as the golden boy why not realise it’s his fault for getting sent off?

There is no difference between Rooney’s red card and Beckham’s 8 years ago. Both were petty acts of petulance and both ruined England’s chances of progressing but the reaction to both of them is worlds apart.