<p>Zidane received a red card for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, the last match of his career, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.<br /> <br />"It (the sending off) was a very good thing," the former Real Madrid and Juventus playmaker told France Football magazine in an interview released on Tuesday.<br /> <br />"It's good that (Italian keeper Gianluigi) Buffon signalled what I had done to the referee because it was not pretty. I don't know how I could have lived with it had France become world champions and I had stayed on the pitch." <br /><br />Zidane, who helped France lift the WC in 1998, thought there had been an overreaction to Thierry Henry's handball that led to France beating Ireland and securing a 2010 World Cup place.</p>
<p>Zidane received a red card for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final, the last match of his career, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.<br /> <br />"It (the sending off) was a very good thing," the former Real Madrid and Juventus playmaker told France Football magazine in an interview released on Tuesday.<br /> <br />"It's good that (Italian keeper Gianluigi) Buffon signalled what I had done to the referee because it was not pretty. I don't know how I could have lived with it had France become world champions and I had stayed on the pitch." <br /><br />Zidane, who helped France lift the WC in 1998, thought there had been an overreaction to Thierry Henry's handball that led to France beating Ireland and securing a 2010 World Cup place.</p>
