Marco Materazzi told Zinedine Zidane he'd "prefer his sister" to his shirt before the infamous headbutt incident in the World Cup final.
Italy overcame France on penalties in Berlin 17 years ago, but the night is best remembered for the incident between the two players, which saw Zidane sent-off in what was the last game of his career. The midfielder was Les Blues' talisman, but left the pitch in shame.
Immediately questions were asked as to what could've provoked Zidane. The 1998 Ballon d'Or winner was known to lose his temper, having done so earlier in his career, but Materazzi believes his comments were "very minimal".
He told Italian Football TV on the iconic moment: "You know the NBA? Trash talking – my trash talking nothing, very minimal, nothing. He offered me his jersey, I say, 'no, I prefer your sister'."
The former Inter Milan player's confession is inline with what Zidane previously claimed was the source of his anger.
The Frenchman said: "He provoked me by talking about my sister Lila. I'm not proud of it, but it's part of my career. At that time, I was more fragile. He didn't insult my mother, but he did insult my sister."
He also added: "It was seen by two or three billion people on television and millions and millions of children were watching. It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise."
France boss that night Raymond Domenech said in the immediate aftermath that the Italian defender was the game's outstanding player, albeit sarcastically.
“Materrazzi is the man of the match, not Andrea Pirlo. When one has to put up with what Zidane had to and the referee doesn’t do anything, one understands," he said.
"You can’t excuse it, but you can understand it. To see him finish his career in this way is sad. He has had a great career and a great World Cup. Something must have happened but I don’t know what. I don’t think he decided out of the blue to headbutt him, that he wanted to leave the pitch, something must have happened.
"The referee saw nothing, the assistant referee saw nothing and then we have the fourth official seeing the video replay and telling the referee.”
William Gallas, who started on that night for Les Blues, also accused Materazzi of a guilty conscience: “I didn’t see it but sometimes football is not only with the ball.
"Sometimes when you have a player who is very clever and says something to you then maybe you are angry and want to ‘kill’ that player. Maybe, and I say maybe, he has made a mistake. I don’t know what he (Materazzi) said. You’ll have to ask him but he’s gone. I know why he’s gone because maybe he’s done something wrong.
