Serie A - The madness of Materazzi

Eurosport - Wed, 21 Jan 17:56:00 2009

Following the news that Tottenham Hotspur are interested in Marco Materazzi, we look at some of the controversial Italian's greatest hits.

FOOTBALL Materazzi Zidande 2006 - 0

July 1998 - Signs for Everton from Perugia for £2.8 milion. Is a resounding failure, getting sent off three times in his only season with the Toffees. On his final appearance, he is wrongly red-carded against Coventry following a Darren Huckerby dive, slumps against an advertising hoarding and bursts into tears. He is quickly sold back to Perugia.

July 2001 - Earns himself a move to Internazionale after rattling in 12 Serie A goals in the 2000-01 season, a record for a defender that makes him comfortably Perugia's top scorer.

February 2004 - Banned for two months following a post-match brawl with Siena's Bruno Cirillo, who appears on TV with a cut lip and black eye. "This is what Materazzi did to me. I want to say it to everyone so that the people know who that person is," says Cirillo, who claims the Inter man had been taunting him from the sideline throughout the game and then hit him in the tunnel. Materazzi dismisses the incident as a "scuffle".

April 2006 - Elbows Villarreal's Juan Pablo Sorin in the face during a Champions League match, yet somehow the offence is missed by the referee. It doesn't matter - Villarreal go on to win the quarter-final tie. Remarkably, he is not involved in the massive brawl when Inter play Valencia the following season.

July 2006 - Has an eventful World Cup final against France. Scores, concedes a penalty, gets butted in the chest by Zinedine Zidane (pictured) then scores again in the penalty shoot-out. Not unreasonably, France coach Raymond Domenech describes it as a man-of-the-match performance.

Summer 2006 - Controversy rumbles about what exactly was said to provoke Zidane. Materazzi denies insulting his mother or calling him a terrorist on the grounds that: "I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means." He later admits to calling Zidane's sister a "whore".

Autumn 2006 - The Franco-Italian blood feud continues as the teams are drawn in the same Euro 2008 qualifying group. France coach Domenech accuses Materazzi of diving, saying: "He has a habit of falling over easily. He must have a weakness somewhere."

January 2007 - Headbutted again. This time it is in a Serie A game with Sampdoria's Gennaro Del Vecchio the assailant, nutting Materazzi after he gets involved in a barney between Del Vecchio and Inter keeper Julio Cesar. Materazzi whines: "I went over to say to him 'What do you think you're doing?' Then he pushed me and I didn't go down. Then he headbutted me and I fell to the ground. He hurt my lip."

May 2007 - Celebrates winning the Serie A title with Inter and gets back on the goal trail with 10 league goals in 28 appearances.

August 2007 - Materazzi is sidelined for two months with a thigh injury and compares the pain to childbirth, saying: "I thought of when my wife said giving birth is the greatest pain a person can feel. I thought I was close."

May 2008 - Drawing 2-2 against Siena and needing a victory to clinch the title, Inter win a late penalty. Materazzi snatches the ball off the furious first-choice taker Julio Cruz, who has to be restrained by team-mates. The kick is saved by Alex Manninger prompting a rare moment of humility from Materazzi: "I felt that I should take it. Of course, in hindsight, I should have let Julio (Cruz) take it and I apologised to him."

Alex Chick / Eurosport

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    From , on Thu 22 Jan 2:28PM

  2. Maybe as person not very good but he is one of the most defenders in history.

    From xahi4475, on Thu 22 Jan 1:52PM

  3. I wish he gets a butt each from bent and pavlychenkov too to get him kicked out of spurs....

    From maaz m, on Thu 22 Jan 9:03AM

  4. Materazzi deserved both the headbutt n i hope he gets more!

    From fabregas, on Thu 22 Jan 8:47AM

  5. Interesting character!!

    From Vishesh T, on Thu 22 Jan 8:38AM

  6. One word: Scum

    From tom h, on Thu 22 Jan 7:43AM

  7. One of the worst hoods in the game.

    I would think that he is the first player to achieve a grand slam in red cards. For the Toffees, I recalled he was sent off in the League, the League Cup and the FA Cup (total 4 times in 27 games). To complete his personal slam, he was also sent off in the last World Cup against Australia and in the Champions League against Liverpool last year.

    In the Milan Derby this season he got sent off while still on the bench!!!

    Spurs' defence needs beefing up, but surely not by getting a thug???

    From Toh Yong, on Thu 22 Jan 4:17AM

  8. One of the worst hoods in the game.

    I would think that he is the first player to achieve a grand slam in red cards. For the Toffees, I recalled he was sent off in the League, the League Cup and the FA Cup (total 4 times in 27 games). To complete his personal slam, he was also sent off in the last World Cup against Australia and in the Champions League against Liverpool last year.

    In the Milan Derby this season he got sent off while still on the bench!!!

    Spurs' defence needs beefing up, but surely not by getting a thug???

    From Toh Yong, on Thu 22 Jan 4:16AM

  9. TUTTI PAZZI PER MATERAZZI!

    From chechenr, on Wed 21 Jan 10:57PM

  10. HOPE YOU GET RELEGATED!!!

    YID SKUM!!!

    From andy l, on Wed 21 Jan 10:32PM

  11. hi guys i have read all u had written about zidane sorry big gap to write the name of that primitive player materazzi i am shy even to write his name with the class of zidane, for he was legend he is legend and i will remain a legend.i dont think so it is a good move to bring a person like materazzi to english league he is tall like twin towers but he has brain in his feet , he can bring violence in english premier league too ,,

    From fareed k, on Wed 21 Jan 9:37PM

  12. keep religion out of football u clown

    From GD, on Wed 21 Jan 9:32PM

  13. to all the Zidane fans:I've always admired Zizou for his great talent and love for the game of football. During his years with Juventus I watched him play beautiful football in the Italian Serie A , but as a man I always had doubts. I found Zidane moody and temperamental.As for Marco Materazzi I've very little to say. I totally dislike him as a man and as a footballer I think is just above average.But also my friends let's not forget the past history of Zidane violence, on the pitch, for many years he got away with murder he was protected and covered up by the international media because he was an Arab Muslim. "reported many times by the French Press " Thus, let's reflect for a moment before we make Zinadine Zidane a candidate for the sainthood. So let's be fair O.K. ...........

    From dante, on Wed 21 Jan 9:20PM

  14. to all the Zidane fans:I've always admired Zizou for his great talent and love for the game of football. During his years with Juventus I watched him play beautiful football in the Italian Serie A , but as a man I always had doubts. I found Zidane moody and temperamental.As for Marco Materazzi I've very little to say. I totally dislike him as a man and as a footballer I think is just above average.But also my friends let's not forget the past history of Zidane violence, on the pitch, for many years he got away with murder he was protected and covered up by the international media because he was an Arab Muslim. "reported many times by the French Press " Thus, let's reflect for a moment before we make Zinadine Zidane a candidate for the sainthood. So let's be fair O.K. ...........

    From dante, on Wed 21 Jan 9:19PM

  15. one of the biggest @#$% in football history....if he played for my sunday lge team id b pissed....

    From GD, on Wed 21 Jan 8:19PM

  16. Damo, yes he is a defender but he gives great support to midfielders. He is a defender who plays a bit high and you see him around the midfield more often than the usual defender. With Matterazzi in his team, a midfielder can play more comfortable. That is why I rate Matterazzi (although I hate bloody Inter the useless morons of the Calcio)

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 21 Jan 8:13PM

  17. IAN, Spot on mate. Matterazzi is controversial for sure, but a great player. He is solid and he has the X factor in him, and that is rare in defenders. I hate Inter even more with Mourinho on helm but credits have to be given wheere they are due. Matterazzi will be a great signing and his failure in his last spell in PL will not repeat itself.

    From Half A Brain, on Wed 21 Jan 8:09PM

  18. to 'IAN' . . hes a defender not a midfielder you @#$% !

    From Damo, on Wed 21 Jan 7:02PM

  19. cool guy,does he still hook up with those ta ll beauties on the ta ll da ting site ____T allmingle Com____ ???The last time I saw his profile is last monday, hope he does not leave.

    From kateloves23, on Wed 21 Jan 6:43PM

  20. well, from the tottenham angle , he will bring a bit of long overdue steel to a midfield sadly lacking in aggression , or at least he would should i say !! don,t take any notice of the brooding inter chairman sounding reluctant , its great business for them to sell at tottenhams ''mug'' prices for a 35 year old and at least he would help tottenham out of the mire ??

    From I, on Wed 21 Jan 6:28PM
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