Hubbry Logo
search
logo
2005039

Marco Materazzi

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Marco Materazzi

Marco Materazzi Ufficiale OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmarko mateˈrattsi]; born 19 August 1973) is an Italian former professional football player and manager. A controversial and provocative figure in football, he was known for his very physical and aggressive style of defending, which saw him collect numerous cards throughout his career.

Early in his career, Materazzi played with various Italian teams in Serie D, Serie C, and Serie B, and with Everton in the Premier League. He spent two periods with Perugia and signed for Inter Milan in 2001 for €10 million. At club level, he won a number of major honors with Inter, including five Serie A league titles in a row from 2006 to 2010, one UEFA Champions League, one FIFA Club World Cup, four Coppa Italia titles, and the Supercoppa Italiana four times. Having played around 270 games for Inter, he announced his retirement from playing shortly after leaving the club in 2011. Materazzi came out of retirement in 2014 when he was appointed player-manager of Chennaiyin in the Indian Super League.

Materazzi earned 41 caps for Italy from his debut in 2001 until 2008, playing in two FIFA World Cups and two UEFA European Championships. He was one of the key players in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final against France; he gave away an early penalty that led to France's first goal, scored Italy's equalising goal twelve minutes later and, in extra time, received a headbutt from Zinedine Zidane who was punished with a red card. Italy then went on to win the World Cup in a penalty shoot-out, during which Materazzi scored again.

Materazzi began his footballing career with the Lazio and then the Messina Peloro youth teams from 1990 to 1991. He spent his early career in the lower divisions of Italian football, with amateur side Tor di Quinto, Serie C2 team Marsala, and Serie C1 Trapani, where he narrowly missed a historic promotion to Serie B after losing a promotion playoff to Gualdo. Serie B squad Perugia signed Materazzi for the first time in 1995, but he spent a part of the 1996–97 season in Serie C with Carpi.

He then spent the 1998–99 season with Everton, where he was sent off three times in just 27 games, and scored twice, against Middlesbrough in the league and Huddersfield Town in the League Cup.

He then returned to Perugia in 1999 and scored 12 goals, including seven from penalties in the 2000–01 season, breaking Daniel Passarella's Serie A record of most goals by a defender in one season.

Materazzi was signed by Inter Milan in July 2001 for €10 million. He took squad number 23 and made his competitive debut for the club on 26 August in the opening championship match against Perugia. Materazzi's first goal for Inter came only in his second appearance, netting inside 10 minutes in a 2–2 draw at Parma. He also played eight times in the season's UEFA Cup, with his competition debut coming on 20 September in the 3–0 win versus Romania's Brașov.

Materazzi played 23 matches in league, including the final decisive match versus Lazio which lost Inter the championship title; he was a protagonist in a controversial episode following the final whistle, as he was involved in a heated discussion with the opposition players which turned into a physical confrontation. He was caught by the cameras shouting at Lazio captain Alessandro Nesta, saying: "I won you the title", in reference to Perugia's win over Juventus in 2000 which lead Lazio to the title.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.