Materazzi says De Miguel death made him reflect on Zidane headbutt

FILE PHOTO: Zinedine Zidane after head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup 2006 final in Berlin. | Photo Credit: AFP

Former Italy defender and World Cup winner Marco Materazzi said the death of Tenerife striker Jesus ​de Miguel last week had left ‌him thankful he was not seriously injured ​when Zinedine Zidane headbutted him ⁠in the 2006 final.

Tenerife’s De Miguel passed after colliding with Andorra keeper Jesus Owono ⁠during a second division match.

Though Owono colliding with De Miguel was an accident, Zidane, then captain of France, was sent off for hitting his head ‌into Materazzi’s chest after a verbal skirmish between the two.

Zidane, now the France ‌head coach, said last month that he ‌was ⁠not proud of the headbutt but ⁠did not regret it. Materazzi said the incident, one of the most infamous in World Cup history, still troubled ​him 20 years later.

“The ‌death of Jesus de Miguel made me thank God that nothing had happened to me,” he told Italian outlet La Gazzetta ‌dello Sport on ​Thursday.

The Inter Milan player said ‌he and Zidane had put the episode behind them when they met before a match in 2010, although Zidane later denied the encounter had unfolded as Materazzi described.

“When he saw me, he hesitated a little, ‌he even turned to walk back,” said Materazzi. “But ​I approached him and shook his hand: ‘I’m glad we’re meeting here, where nobody ⁠can see us. He replied: ‘Don’t worry, these things happen, ⁠it’s all in the past’. It’s a shame he later denied everything, saying ‌he thought I was a fan.”