🌎 World Cup Moments: Zidane's shocking final headbutt | OneFootball

The 2006 World Cup final produced the most incredible end to a football career there has ever been.

Already planning retirement after the game, France's Zinedine Zidane was aware it would be his last outing as a player - and he went out with a bang. Literally.

The Real Madrid legend had been the hero of the 1998 World Cup final when his country won it for the first time and a cheeky chipped penalty in this one had given Les Bleus the lead, only for Marco Materazzi to equalise for Italy and send the game to extra-time.

And it was there that the two goalscorers came together to produce one of the most shocking moments ever witnessed on a football pitch.

As Zidane jogged away from the Italian defender following an altercation, a flurry of insults directed at him by Materazzi (the contents of which continues to be debated to this day) saw the Frenchman see red as he spun back and planted a thundering headbutt into the chest of his tormentor.

Following consultation among the officials, Zidane was shown a red card which brought his glittering career to an ignominious end.

France went on to lose on penalties and the image of 'Zizou' trudging past the trophy remains one of the most defining in the history of the game.