Hard to prove case against Materazzi, says lawyer

MARCO MATERAZZI will have “strong grounds” for appeal if FIFA punish him for provoking Zinedine Zidane’s infamous World Cup final headbutt based on the France captain’s testimony alone.

That is the view of leading sports lawyer Mel Goldberg, who believes the sport’s world governing body will have difficulty proving a case of serious provocation against the Italy defender unless other players come forward or the video evidence is conclusively lip-read.

Goldberg said: “It is one man’s word against another. No-one will know who is telling the truth.

“Something was said which made Zidane lose his cool, and I would guess that Zidane is likely to have been more accurate (over what was said) than Materazzi.

“It will probably be a fine or something of that nature (for Materazzi) if FIFA have enough evidence to reach that conclusion, but unless somebody else overheard it and it is possible to call other evidence, it’s very, very difficult indeed.

“If Materazzi is found guilty on Zidane’s testimony alone, he would have strong grounds for appeal.

“It is just like a court of law — if they actually haven’t got the evidence beyond reasonable doubt, how are they going to be able to prove it? I think FIFA are going to want to haul Materazzi over the coals, because clearly something was said to get that sort of violent reaction.

“Zidane has had his punishment. He was sent off, he didn’t get his World Cup medal, and the whole world saw it.”

Goldberg anticipates a real struggle to get at the truth even if FIFA have more to go on than the pair’s statements.

“It’s very difficult to prove.

“We all look at players when they mouth things on TV and you can work things out yourself in any event, but I do think the lip-readers haven’t come out of this very well either, because they have all come out with different interpretations.”

Asked what punishment Materazzi could expect if found guilty, Goldberg said: “FIFA would talk about him bringing the game into disrepute which is an all-embracing provision for not observing good conduct and right spirit of the game.

“I’ve no doubt Zidane was being wound up throughout the whole match. I’ve no doubt the Italians were aware he has got a short fuse.

“They were aware he was under pressure, that there were 10 minutes to go and he had nearly won it with a header just before. Also, they were aware he would have taken a shoot-out in the penalty and probably would have scored it.”