The most infamous moment in French football history has been immortalised in giant bronze statue form with Zinedine Zidan’s headbutt on Marco Materazzi captured by Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed. The five-metre (16 feet) tall statue, aptly titled “Headbutt”, is on display outside Centre Pompidou and is part of an exhibition that will run until January.
The headbutt ended Zidane’s illustrious career with only minutes remaining in the World Cup final with scores drawn at 1-1. Les Bleus lost the ensuing penalty shoot out, the cup was gone, the nation was heartbroken.
“This statue goes against the tradition of making statues in honour of certain victories. It is an ode to defeat,” said exhibition organiser Alain Michaud. That’s pretty French.
Picture by Mehdi Fedouach at Getty Images
