Marco Materazzi has put together a book in which he
takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what he might have said to prompt
Zinedine Zidane to head butt him in the World Cup final.
Zidane, who was playing in the final game of his career, rammed
his head into the Italy defender's chest during extra time of the
World Cup final after Materazzi said something to him. The France
captain was red-carded and Italy went on to win the title on penalty
kicks.
The incident sparked weeks of speculation about what Materazzi
might have told Zidane to provoke such a reaction, and the Italian
eventually acknowledged that he had insulted Zidane's sister.
In a book titled ``What I actually told Zidane,'' Materazzi lists
249 possible phrases he could have uttered, including his real
words, the ANSA news agency reported Sunday.
The sentences range from ``Zidane, what are you doing? You
haven't lost yet and already you've ripped your hair out,'' to
``Since Foucault died, French philosophy has sucked.''
The book, which costs 10 euros (US$13), is being published by
Mondadori and was shown at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Money earned
from the book's sale will be donated to Unicef, ANSA reported.
Phone calls to Mondadori's offices in Rome and Milan were
unanswered Sunday.
© The Canadian Press, 2007