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So apparently I missed this little bit o’ smackdown since I avoided the World Cup:

There has been much speculation about what prompted France’s Zinedine Zidane to head-butt Italy’s Marco Matterazzi. And now, apparently, we know:

It is the question on every football fan’s lips. What did the Italian footballer say to prompt Zinedine Zidane’s shocking headbutt in the closing moments of Sunday’s World Cup final?

The answer, it has emerged, was a vile stream of racial and personal abuse.

First Marco Matterazzi called the French star the Italian equivalent of ‘n*****’, and then insulted both his mother and his Muslim background by saying he is the ’son of a terrorist whore.

Zidane got red-carded and ejected, and France lost.

…and then Zidane was declared the game’s best player. Oops.

Shame was replaced with the glow of the Golden Ball award for the tournament’s best player.

For FIFA the award - voted for by journalists before half time in the final game - will be an unwelcome embarrassment.

And, just for the hell of it, here’s a Zidane head-butting game. Simple and violent and wholly satisfying.