Marco Materazzi hopes Simone Inzaghi will stay at Inter despite Premier League interest, begged Jose Mourinho to stay and believes the Byron Moreno scandal helped prepare Italy for the 2006 World Cup triumph, regardless of Zinedine Zidane’s headbutt.
The now retired defender sat down with the Italian Football Podcast to look back over his lengthy career at club and international level, while also casting an eye on the current calcio scene.
He was in the stands for Inter’s 1-1 draw with Napoli in Serie A last week and enjoyed the performances of the defenders, above all Francesco Acerbi and Alessandro Buongiorno.
“It was an impressive game by Buongiorno. Because in 1 vs 1 against Thuram, because Thuram is strong and fast but for Buongiorno it was easy to catch him. But Napoli maybe paid €40m for him. Now minimum they want not double but €60 million.
“If Antonio Conte stays in Napoli maybe Buongiorno will stay in Napoli. It is a good team and good club,” continued Materazzi.
“Ok, Acerbi is maybe 50-60-70 years old but last match he was the Man Of The Match. Lukaku didn’t touch a ball in that game.
“For me age is important, but not that important. If he is fit, he can play until 38-39 years old, we will see. At the moment Acerbi is one of the best defenders in Italy.”
Inzaghi impressed with his trophy haul at Inter and is doing well in the Champions League too, holding Manchester City to a 0-0 draw and beating Arsenal 1-0.
This helped boost reports that after having failed before to convince him, Premier League clubs could be back in for the coach.
“I am an Inter fan. I hope he stays at Inter because his job there hasn’t been finished yet. I think he is a good profile for the Premier League,” confessed Materazzi.
“Maybe Arteta, who is one of the best coaches in the Premier League, but for me Arsenal is one of the clubs in my opinion for Simone.
“Maybe Manchester United. And Manchester City too, because nobody knows what Pep will do.
“But I hope Simone stays in Italy. I’m not his manager. I’m his friend because we played each other and we have a good relationship. I can’t decide on his fate.”
Materazzi was part of the Inter squad that won the 2010 Treble under Mourinho and the bear hug he gave the Special One went viral after that Champions League Final victory.
“I was hugging him because he left us. I’m sure with him we would win many more titles in a row in 2011. But he decided to leave Inter after the game.
“The last two weeks before the game [Champions League final in 2010], I went to José’s office to pray to him to stay. For us as a family, you can see José as a strong person, but he is also very nice. Because he creates a lot of happiness in a locker room, which is very important for me to become champions.
“But he never looked me in the eyes these two weeks, so I understood everything before the final was played.”
Materazzi hero of 2006 World Cup
The highlight of Materazzi’s career was no doubt winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy, where he took centre-stage in the Final against France.
However, before that, he was part of the squad that crashed out of the 2002 tournament in the Round of 16 with defeat to South Korea, a game overshadowed by the bizarre officiating of Ecuadorian referee Moreno.
“I don’t know if he is still in prison, no?” laughed Materazzi, referring to the corruption and cocaine smuggling convictions for Moreno in the following years.
“Maybe he has more problems than that Italy Korea game. But in my opinion that Italy team was better than the 2006. We didn’t have Pirlo but in my opinion that Italy team was better than in 2006.
“We deserved to go ahead in that game, but Byron Moreno was a joker for them. But then we went home and started to prepare for the 2006 World Cup.”
Prepare they did, winning in Germany on a penalty shoot-out against France, where Zidane was sent off in extra time for headbutting Materazzi in the chest.
“You never know what would have happened with him [on the pitch]. He got the red card maybe just 15 minutes before the game was over.
“I don’t like to remember that because in my opinion, you have to remember me for my two goals scored in the World Cup final. I don’t know how many defenders who have scored two goals in the World Cup Final. So that was very important,” insisted Materazzi.
“Maybe he could have scored the penalty [in the shootout]. But in my opinion Trezeguet is one of the best penalty takers in the game, but was unlucky. Had he scored then we would have drawn and shot more penalties. Maybe it was destiny that Italy win the World Cup.”