When Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi near the end of the World Cup final, the question asked around the world was "Whaaaa?!?!" Zidane has not spoken to the media yet, but journalists are not the kind of people to sit around waiting for a story to happen. A number of outlets (not all of them reputable) have hired lip-readers to decipher what Materazzi may have said to provoke Zidane. [Google "lip-reader + zidane" for the gory details.] Zidane knows Italian from his Juventus days, so he certainly understood whatever was said. Accounts differ but the worst seems to center around his mother, who is ill and was in fact admitted to hospital the morning of the final. I have to say that if I had been in his boots that day and someone had insulted my mother, I might very well go mental. We might wonder how Zidane managed not to do worse. Of course it is still undignified and illegal to retaliate on the field of play (or anywhere), but considering his situation it is perhaps understandable. Let's hope Zizou's mother will be well enough to scold him about it for many years to come.
UPDATE: Pour ceux qui parlent le français, voici la première interview avec Zidane depuis le finale de la Coupe du Monde, sur Canal+.
