Interrogated by The Guardian, Gianluigi Buffon admitted feeling guilty for reporting Zidane’s headbutt to the referee during the 2006 World Cup final. Everyone still remembers. Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt to Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin is etched into collective memory. This gesture, resulting in the midfielder’s expulsion before France’s defeat and marking the end of “Zizou’s” professional career, is now part of the player’s legend, as we recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of this terrible episode.
Since that date, many things have been told, truths and lies alike. On Wednesday, during an interview with The Guardian, Gianluigi Buffon revisited this moment, first jokingly declaring, “It’s my fault.”
Later in the interview, the former Juventus goalkeeper went on to confess that he felt guilty for the Frenchman’s expulsion since he was the one who reported him to the referee. “I was about 15 meters away and I heard the dull noise (of the gesture),” Buffon recalled. “If he had done that against anyone else, that person would have been knocked out. The linesman didn’t see it. The only witness was me. So I rushed to the referee and his assistant to get their attention. Materazzi was on the ground. Zidane was still, I was protesting, and the match was interrupted.”
Under pressure from the Italians, the referee went to see the television footage and then showed a red card to Zinedine Zidane. An outcome that stirred mixed feelings in the former Parma player. “I was disturbed and torn between contrasting sentiments,” he acknowledged, still talking to The Guardian. “I knew it was Zidane’s final match and that he was one of the greatest and most elegant players in the history of football. And I was sorry that it ended like this for him.” Since then, Buffon and Zidane have never “spoken again” about that moment. “Obviously, we’ve seen each other many times and I think we have a good relationship based on mutual trust. I never wanted to bring up this subject out of respect. He’s a champion who has won everything, but I believe deep down it will always be a painful situation for him, and that’s why I didn’t want to remind him of it.”
