Admittedly, he probably shouldn't have reserved the most unfortunate behaviour of his career for the match which was to be his very last competitive game, and a World Cup final at that - but he must surely have been sorely provoked.

I'll remember Zinedine Zidane as the finest player of his generation; surely one of the most graceful, breathtakingly brilliant exponents of the Beautiful Game ever to strap on a pair of boots. If I remember Materazzi at all, it will only be as the idiot who provoked him.