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Materazzi denies calling Zidane "terrorist"
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July 11, 2006 11:20 IST

Italy [Images] defender Marco Materazzi on Monday denied a report that he had called Zinedine Zidane [Images] a "dirty terrorist" seconds before the French captain head-butted him in Sunday's World Cup final.

"It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying after the Italian team returned to Rome.

"The whole world saw what happened on live TV," he added.

The Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism had earlier quoted well informed sources as saying Materazzi had apparently used the phrase.

"According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement.

Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was shown a red card after the incident and Italy went on to win on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 following extra time.

SOS Racism called for an inquiry and said world soccer's governing body FIFA had recently toughened sanctions against racism.

"It's for this reason that SOS Racism asks in a determined fashion for FIFA to shed light on this altercation and that sanctions laid out in the official rules be applied should this be the case," SOS Racism said.

French television reported that Zidane would talk about the incident "in the coming days".

 



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    Number of User Comments: 6




    Sub: What Matterazzi actually asked Zidane...

    'log chlormint kyoon khate' hain?'


    Posted by Sidharth





    Sub: Pele.. maradona..... ZIDANE...Ronaldhino/ Cristiano ronaldo.

    NO one knows what happened that night .Anyway ZIDANE is going to clear it in coming days. He got best player award that shows his ...


    Posted by makarand





    Sub: Wanted Zidane or Murda

    Whatever the provocation zidane had absolutely no business to attack Materazzi. If Materazzi said something verbally then zidane should also have responded verbally. zidane has ...


    Posted by Ram Alegavi





    Sub: Warrants a Serious Investigation.

    In order to find out the truth, perhaps the FIFA Authorities could ask Materazzi to undergo the NARCO analysis/Lie detection Test. Otherwise it will remain ...


    Posted by J.N.mahanty





    Sub: zidane

    The concerned authorities must investigate the incident thoroughly since it is seems that the fact do remain that it could be a strategy to instigate ...


    Posted by chandra kamdar




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