Special report: 2006 FIFA World Cup

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    BEIJING, July 12 -- Italian defender Marco Materazzi has for the first time acknowledged that he "insulted" French player Zinedine Zidane because he was super arrogant in the World Cup final, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported.

    "I held his shirt .. for only a few seconds, he turned toward me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance, up and down: 'if you really want my shirt, you can have it later.' (Zidane said) It's true, I shot back with an insult," Tuesday's paper quoted Materazzi as saying.

    Asked whether he had insulted Zidane's sister or mother, Materazzi said, it was an "insult of the kind you will hear dozens of times and that just slips out on the ground."

    "I certainly didn't call him a terrorist; I am ignorant, I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is. I certainly did not mention Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred.¡±

    ¡¡(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)