Argentinian referee recalls 2006 World Cup final penalty

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Europe

04:10

In the new episode of “By the Hand of the Ten,” Diego Maradona is absent to the show, which will see another famous Argentine, Horacio Elizondo, the first referee in World Cup history to be in charge of both the opening and final game from 2006.

With France going to up against Belgium in their semi-finals clash tonight, he goes back to that fateful night in Berlin 12 years ago when Italy overcame the French on penalties in the final. But the game was marked by Zinedine Zidane being sent off in his final game after he head-butted Marco Materazzi.

As the person who gave the red card, Elizondo tells more about that infamous incident. The 54-year-old admitted that he didn’t see anything about Zidane, as he was referring to others for what had happened, a Spanish sub-referee informed him about head-butt, which finally made Elizondo decide to send off the Frenchman.

That penalty, to some degree, helped Italy go on to lift the World Cup trophy that year. But talking about the Frenchman’s reaction, Elizondo recalled that Zidane calmly accepted the red card but asked him whether he knew what had happened before.

The Argentine asked for the reason but only saw the former France captain turn around and go off the pitch without a word. That scene would forever mark the end of Zidane’s professional career in football.