France-Italy, Zidane: The headbutt on Materazzi? I didn’t only do that in my career

France-Italy is also Zinedine Zidane’s clash with an important part of his footballing history, and among the episodes that still tie him closely to it is the 2006 World Cup final. “The headbutt on Materazzi? I have no regrets because it is part of my career. I am not proud of it, I still say that today, but it is part of a journey. You cannot only do good things, it happens to everyone in life, but now we move forward and think about what will happen tomorrow with the national team, that is what I am focused on today,” the current France coach replied, slightly irritated.

“The images always remind me of this, they appear everywhere, but I didn’t only do that, there are better images of me,” Zidane added. “I am thinking about the positive ones.”

Turning to the past: “Juve and Italy were very special for me, that is where I became an important player. Lippi? I am inspired by all coaches, I have had some extraordinary ones, and Lippi is one of them, especially tactically. The Italians are unmatched in that respect, and I have kept that.”

Now, however, an important match awaits. “Italy is not the same as it once was, there are cycles, but this is a complicated team. My players are ready for this third match. It will be difficult, they lost to Belgium, but they beat Turkey in a beautiful way. Tomorrow will be another match, we will have to be focused and play our best,” he continued.

“I have been preparing for three years to be here today, I spent three years training, then I was a coach in Madrid, so I am ready. It was my dream to coach the national team one day, now I am here and I do not think about negative things, in fact, I have an extraordinary team. I will try to give everything to make sure the team performs as well as possible.”