Zinedine Zidane's assault on Marco Materazzi in the Soccer World Cup final was provoked by a "very serious" comment made by the Italian defender, according to the French playmaker's agent.
And a lipreader employed by Brazilian television channel Globo says the former Real Madrid star's moment of madness may have been provoked by Materazzi calling his sister a prostitute, according to a report on Globo.
Zidane, 34, who was on Monday named winner of the Golden Ball award as the tournament's best player, floored Materazzi with a butt to the chest in the second half of extra time in Sunday's final. He was sent off, missing a penalty shootout in which he would have been expected to take one of France's spot-kicks.
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Although neither player has yet revealed the nature of their disagreement, Fantastico, a programme on Globo, employed lip-reading experts who said footage of the incident showed the Italian twice insulted Zidane's sister.
'I don't even know what the word means' The programme claimed Materazzi made the same comment twice before then using a "coarse word" aimed at the French player.
There have also been reports Materazzi had called him a "terrorist" or suggested he did not have the right to play for France - both insults based on French-born Zidane's Algerian heritage.
Materazzi on Monday denied calling Zidane a "dirty terrorist" seconds before the French captain head-butted him. "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying after the Italian team returned to Rome.
Zidane's agent Alain Migliaccio confirmed to the BBC on Monday that it had been verbal rather than physical abuse from the Italian defender which had triggered his violent reaction. "He told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn't tell me what," Migliaccio said.
'He will talk about it in the next couple of days'
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