The metamorphosis that occurred with Marco Materazzi is like a fairy tale. Throughout his career, defender Kalancha earnestly earned a reputation as the dirtiest player in modern times, knocking out the spirit of football from all over Europe. Benny McCarthy’s knee, Pippo Inzaghi’s head, and Andrei Shevchenko’s causal place — they all experienced the “tenderness” of Marco’s touch. But apart from the rough play, there was another. Eight-match disqualification for a blow by an opponent during a match in which he did not even take part. And last season, at the last minute of one of the fights, lifting his ball high from almost the center of the field, Materazzi became the author of an amazing own goal (in the video).
In ordinary life, Marco is "white and fluffy." But the deeds committed on the football field, fixing everything positive, inevitably turned him into the least revered player in Italy. Last summer, however, things changed. However, at first, his inclusion in the team’s application for the World Cup, even by such a brilliant columnist as the author of these lines, was perceived as a “predictable accident”. But in Germany, a player nicknamed Matrix almost single-handedly won the world Cup. Whose goal was victorious in a duel with the Czech Republic? Materazzi. Who gave France a penalty in the final, but then evened the score, provoked the removal of Zidane and scored the second Italian goal in the penalty shoot-out? Big Marco again.
Italian Tifosi also remember everything perfectly. While partner Materazzi in the center of defense Fabio Cannavaro earned individual prizes, it was Marco who became a truly iconic figure in the “Azzurra Squadra”. Evidence of which one of the fan chants - “ Tutti pazzi per Materazzi "(" Everything is crazy about Materazzi ").
In the last two rounds of Serie A, Marco was again in the spotlight, including in his usual manner. In the first half of the Sunday match, he took part in a funny, non-game skirmish. The Messina coach Bruno Giordano refused to return the ball for entry from behind, hiding it behind his back. Materazzi grabbed the visiting team's mentor with his arms long as a rake and took out a shell, but received a slap in response, and for some reason the “mustard plaster” also came from the referee. At the 48th minute an even more amazing event occurred. With a score of 0: 0, Materazzi caught the ball soaring above the Sicilian penalty box at the right point, jumped out, skillfully grouped and drove the projectile into the upper corner (in the video). Believe me, Cannavaro can only dream of such masterpieces.
The lanky teammate Marko Zlatan Ibrahimovic later scored the second goal, finally burying the “Messina”, which still stood on the ears of the magical transformation of the Matrix by the many thousands of San Siro public who paid much less attention. He celebrated his miraculous goal traditionally modestly: dedicated it to the families of two young Juventus footballers who drowned last Friday, adding a special message: “To those who need love on Christmas days.”
In truth, the goal of Materazzi was not the only goal scored in the before last round of Serie A through himself (two more on the account of the Sampdoria junior Fabio Cuagliarella and the Lazio striker Goran Pandeva, who was violently sputtered by the captain injured by a successful kick from the foot Livorno »Cristiano Lucarelli). But then it was a shot of an experienced killer in the style of a la Van Basten, which was mainly devoted to the first page of Monday Gazzetta dello Sport . “Even if Materazzi scores like that ...” the cap read, hinting that the gold of the current championship should really have a black and blue tint. And as if angry with the newspaper, in yesterday's guest match with Lazio (2-0) Materazzi scored again ...
Translation by Andrey KARNAUKHOV