Marco Materazzi says the closest he and Zinedine Zidane have ever come to settling their 2006 World Cup final feud was a handshake at the back of a Milan hotel. Zidane says it never happened.
In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday, the former Italy defender returned to the headbutt story and the night he and Zidane crossed paths at the Hotel Meliá on the eve of AC Milan’s Champions League meeting with Real Madrid in November 2010.
The car park meeting
Materazzi says he had just said goodbye to then Real Madrid manager José Mourinho when he spotted Zidane parking a car at the back of the hotel. The Frenchman, he claims, initially tried to slip away.
“I walked out of the hotel after saying goodbye to Mourinho; he was parking his car at the back. When he saw me, he hesitated; he even turned to head back, but I approached him.”
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Materazzi says he walked over, shook Zidane’s hand and told him he was glad they had met away from the cameras. The reply, as Materazzi tells it to the Italian paper, was short.
“Don’t worry: things happen, things in the past.”
Zidane’s denial, then and now
The peace lasted barely a news cycle. Spanish daily Marca reported an embrace at the hotel, which Zidane publicly rejected at the time, saying he had not recognised Materazzi and had taken him for a fan. Materazzi, in turn, denied there had been any embrace.
Sixteen years on, Zidane’s position has not shifted. Speaking before France’s October meeting with Italy in the Nations League, the 54-year-old confirmed he has not spoken to Materazzi since the 2006 final.
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“I’m not proud of what happened, but I have no regrets. It is part of my career.”
Materazzi: no grudge, just no resolution
Materazzi, 53, told Gazzetta he does not carry a grudge, has never had any problem making peace, and would have forgiven Zidane had an apology ever come. Both men, he suggested, bore some responsibility for what unfolded in extra time of the Berlin final.
The Italian added that the incident may simply be too high-profile for Zidane to settle in public. He also pointed out, according to the reconciliation account carried by YSscores, that he was not the first opponent Zidane had struck on the head during his playing career.
Zidane was named France head coach in July 2026 on a four-year contract running through the 2030 World Cup, succeeding Didier Deschamps after Les Bleus’ campaign in North America. His France side face Italy at San Siro on Thursday evening, with kick-off at 8:45pm local time in a Nations League group that France lead on ten points, three ahead of the Azzurri.
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