He played a World Cup final with Zinedine Zidane and assured: “I had to smoke 250 cigarettes since I wanted to kill him”

Zinedine Zidane was one of the most prolific soccer players in history according to lots of fans. the Frenchman was an extremely talented playmaker and almost idolized all around the world. His life was full of important titles but also some big disappointments. For example the last match in his life.

France and Italy were playing the extra time of the 2006 World Cup final in Germany. After a discussion with Italian defender Marco Materazzi, he ran into his opponents and headed him straight into his chest. Argentinian referee Horacio Elizondo showed him the red card immediately, and Italy went on to win on the penalty shootout.

“Imagine you just enter the dressing room after losing a World Cup final and you just see a guy apologizing. You just don't want to listen to him. You are like deep inside your own world and your disappointments. I had to go into the toilet and smoke 250 cigarettes in 10 minutes. That's how I stayed in control and didn’t kill him”, said France’s defender Willy Sagnol, who started every match in that competition.

Life went on

After that very tense moment, things got better. Regarding that, Sagnol told Radio Montecarlo: “after the Euro 2008 I got married. My wife told me to bring him to the party, so I called him. he couldn't come to the party during the night, but he did the following morning. we had a drink together and had a good conversation. Life started again”.