Zinedine Zidane told how he should have got revenge on Marco Materazzi by ex-teammate

Zinedine Zidane shouldn’t have headbutted Marco Materazzi – but if he’d wanted to fight afterwards, ‘I would be the first one behind him’.

That is the opinion of Emmanuel Petit, who also revealed why his former teammate was treated differently from David Beckham after their respective World Cup red cards.

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Arsenal hero Petit and Zidane both scored in the 1998 final as France beat Brazil to lift football’s greatest prize for the first time.

The latter had the opportunity to captain his country to their second World Cup triumph eight years later as Les Bleus faced Italy.

Zidane, in what was his final match before retiring, opened the scoring with an early Panenka penalty before Materazzi equalised.

The pair then took the headlines away from their respective goals with an altercation in extra-time that saw Zizou headbutt his rival.

The 1998 Ballon d’Or winner was sent off by referee Horacio Elizondo, and France lost on penalties without their first-choice taker.

In 2023, Materazzi finally revealed that he said, ‘He offered me his jersey, I say, “No, I prefer your sister” to spark the angry reaction.

Speaking on talkSPORT’s ‘How To Win The World Cup’ podcast, Petit disagreed that it was enough to warrant the headbutt from Zidane.

“I don’t think so,” he told Matt Forde and Alex Brooker. “I’m sorry to say that.”

“No, no, you expect something different from a player like that.

“You’re expecting him because you receive so much pressure during the game before, during, so you have to control yourself all the time.”

Zidane should have fought Materazzi after the final

Petit then revealed that instead of the headbutt, Zidane should have kept his head and helped France over the line.

The 55-year-old said if he had and then wanted to scrap with Materazzi in the changing rooms, he’d be the first one behind him.

He continued: “More importantly, I would have preferred that he help the national team, the team, to win a second World Cup.

“And then afterwards, ‘Guys, come with me, we go to the Italy dressing room, and we’re gonna have a fight.”

“Yeah. I would have done that; I would be the first one to be behind him…Yeah, let’s go and get a fight.”

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Why he was treated differently from Beckham

Zidane’s sending off was not his first at a World Cup; he became the first Frenchman to receive a red card at the tournament in 1998.

The former Real Madrid manager was penalised for a stamp on Fuad Anwar in a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia on home soil.

“Zizou received many red cards during his career,” Petit added. “Because of his temper. That’s in his blood, you know.

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“This is how he is. He is very quiet, very shy. In the meantime, if you provoke him many times, he will fight.

“Remember, in 1998, he received a red card as well against Saudi Arabia. Someone tried to kick him, and he jumped on him.

“And he got sent off. But I think he received more than 10 red cards during his career, which is huge.”

Another of Zidane’s old teammates, Beckham, was also sent off in the 1998 World Cup, which even Michael Owen still holds resentment for.

‘We forgive you because we love you’

Host Forde asked: “What was the reaction in France? Because we’ve seen Beckham get sent off in Argentina in 98.”

“We forgave him,” Petit replied. Immediately? Yeah, even the French president, [Jacques] Chirac, said it on TV. ‘We forgive you because we love you.’”

No tabloid hate campaign? “No”, Effigies? “No…I know what you’ve done here in England with the likes of David Beckham.”

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“No [we didn’t do the same to Zidane], because everything he’s done for France is amazing. And he’s a legend. People loved him.

“For the people, the guy he is on the pitch, but as well outside the pitch.

“So, you know, we can do mistakes sometimes, but we can forgive as well. I think we are living in a society that we don’t do that anymore.

“We judge people all the time. We kill them all the time. And we forget that we are human beings.”