Oh please. You people have no idea what he said. And some lipreader is not going to tell you either, especially when lipreading only can pick up 25% of the words (and that is from close distance). What Zidane did was childish and they are considering pulling his best player award from him and giving it to the person who really deserved it, Fabio Cannavaro. Cannavaro was a better sport and is a much better player then Zidane. He's also a professional when it comes to behavior.
Materazzi is not a racist, nor is he a bigot. Jeez, people insult each other all the time on the field. I even played for an amateur football league while I was living in Argentina and it was common. I just let it go over my head, and continue playing. Headbutting someone when they say something mean to you is immature and quite unprofessional. I want Zidane to lose his best player award just for that.
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1227435,00.htmlSky is a pretty iffy source, but I have heard this from several sources.
Isabelle is on her usual rant about bashing Materazzi, who basically equalized against France. I Think a lot of people in the French media are bitter because they know it was Materazzi who scored that equalizing goal and they see this headbutting incident, as an opportunity to use slander against him. I hope Materazzi has a good lawyer... I wonder how effective it is to sue in the EU for slander.
So many sour grapes here. I'm sorry that France lost and I'm sorry that Zidane had to resort to immaturity and violence. I guess that's a symbol of the state of affairs in France. I really don't think you guys should be directing all your anger at Materazzi, and hell I heard it was Zidane who said something first to Materazzi that was insulting. They traded words, and Zidane became a child. Your anger is misdirected and rather should be directed at ZIDANE HIMSELF!
Guys... before you bash me... understand... I had a lot of respect for Zidane and I feared him in this match. But right now... I have lost all respect for the guy. Great player or not, he's not professional.