Referee of 2006 World Cup final explains his decision to send off Zidane

He recalled the incident in detail

Posted Thursday, July 19, 2018 by Marca.com

One of the most shocking moments in World Cup history was when Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, for which referee Horacio Elizondo dismissed the French legend.

While some wondered at the time how Elizondo could have possibly seen the incident, the Argentine has explained that it was Spanish fourth official Luis Medina Cantalejo who told him about Zidane's moment of aggression.

"I saw that Materazzi was lying on the floor, around 30 or 40 metres away, so I paused the game," Elizondo explained in a recent talk.

"So I asked myself 'oh, what could have happened?'

"Quickly, through the intercom, I asked my assistants 'what happened?'

"Surprisingly, they replied that they hadn't seen anything at all.

"And, just as I was thinking to myself that I had a problem, my guardian angel, who was Luis Medina Cantalejo, the fourth official at this final, appeared.

"He told me 'Horacio, Horacio, there was a terrible headbutt from Zidane on Materazzi, when you see the video in the hotel you won't believe it!'

"So, when I went over to the scene of the crime, I already had all of this information and the decision I was going to make was to dismiss Zidane from the field of play."

Following Zidane's red card, the match went to penalties and Italy won the tournament.