Twenty years after being sent off in the 2006 World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane will face Italy again on Friday, this time in a suit as France's coach.
Deep into extra time in the 2006 final in Berlin, France star Zidane planted a firm headbutt into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi. The force sent Materazzi flying backward and Zidane's stellar career ended with a red card.
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Although two decades have passed, the headbutt incident remains one of soccer's most iconic and talked-about moments.
"The images always remind me of it, they're shown over and over again," Zidane said Thursday at a pre-match news conference. "But luckily that's not all I ever did and there are other [images] that are nicer."
Zidane still does not regret what he did.
"They're not regrets. It's part of my career. I'm not proud of what happened, but you can't always do just good things," he said. "We're all on a journey in life, where [sometimes] you do things that aren't the best. But now it's about what comes next."
Zidane never played again after the 2006 final and, at the time, thought it was the last thing he would be remembered for with France.
"Yes, because I didn't know I was going to become coach. So for me it was the end, and I can say things were very, very difficult," Zidane recalled. "I'm ready to come back and coach the France team, I want to give everything I have."
He has not spoken with Materazzi since.
"No," Zidane said firmly. "Not at all."
Zidane has won his first two games in charge away from home, 1-0 against Türkiye and Belgium. Friday's UEFA Nations League game at Stade de France will be his first at home since taking charge of Les Bleus.
"It's a very emotional moment," Zidane added. "We're ready for this third match, we've prepared well, there are no particular problems. We're going to try to win in front of our fans."
Ousmane Dembélé is again set to captain France on Friday in the absence of the injured Kylian Mbappé.
Italy's rebuilding under returning coach Roberto Mancini began with a 2-0 home loss to Belgium, but there is optimism following a 4-1 win at Türkiye.
He called up 33 players for the international break but after losing Bergamo forward Giacomo Raspadori to injury, he has left nine players -- Honest Ahanor, Nicolò Cambiaghi, Diego Coppola, Daniele Ghilardi, Samuele Inácio, Eddy Kouadio, Rolando Mandragora, Massimo Pessina, and Alessandro Romano -- at home.
"As already happened during the trip to Bursa [vs. Türkiye)] with the aim of better managing preparations for the match against Turkey scheduled for Monday in Bologna, coach Roberto Mancini has decided not to send his entire squad to France," the Italian Football Federation said in a statement.
The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.
