Domenech rues Zidane dismissal

France coach Raymond Domenech admitted Zinedine Zidane’s moment of madness cost Les Bleus the World Cup.

Zidane was sent off 20 minutes into extra time for head-butting Marco Materazzi in the chest, and after the match ended 1-1 Italy went on to win the penalty shoot-out 5-3, with David Trezeguet missing the crucial kick.

The France captain had given his side the lead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute after Materazzi had tripped Florent Malouda, but the Italy defender headed an equaliser 12 minutes later.

However Domenech was furious with Materazzi – and he claimed referee Horacio Elizondo only produced the red card after the fourth official had seen a video replay.

He said: “The sending off of Zidane changed the match, that was the key moment of the game.

“We had been playing better than Italy in extra time and you could see they were just waiting for penalties.

“It was a pity that we were without Zidane for the last 10 minutes, it affected our balance and perhaps it should not have happened.”

Domenech added: “The referee was not on our side. I don’t know what Materazzi told Zidane – all I know was the man of the match was not Andrea Pirlo but Materazzi, he scored the equaliser and he had Zidane sent off.

“It’s sad, it’s a pity. He [Materazzi] really put on a great show when he fell down – we know how these things work.”