Marco Materazzi

BBC Radio 5 consulted a lip reading expert. The expert claims she could decipher Materazzi telling Zidane he was the son of a terrorist whore.

It came down to this : The best soccer player in the world looses his head over not just any ethnic slur, but one of the most hideously political ethnic slurs anybody could use against a man of Middle Eastern ascendancy : son of a terrorist whore.

During his Canal+ interview Zidane did not repeat the words uttered by the italian player. He did apologize, epecially to the children, for his unforgivable reaction. Yet he did not express any regret : To do so would be to say he had every reason to say what he said.

Do you think that I would do something like that, during the last 10 minutes of my career ... that I would do something like that just because I felt like it? ... What I did was inexcusable ... but the one who provokes ought to be taken to task.

You can watch the Canal+ interview here and continue on to YouTube.com for part two.