The Italian centre-back is perhaps best known these days not for his footballing ability, but for his chest being the target of Zinedine Zidane's bald head in the 2006 World Cup final. Also, Everton fans will remember him mostly for the four red cards he recieved in the 1998-99 season. In Serie A however, he holds the record for the most goals scored by a defender in a season. This record of 12 goals in 30 league games was racked up during the 2000-01 season while playing for Perugia. That turned out to be his swansong for the Umbria side, and he made the move to Inter, where in his initial years he struggled to re-capture the same goalscoring form. He came back hard in the 2006-07 season, scoring ten league goals and ending as the Serie A's highest-scoring defender for that year, while not quite breaking his own previous record. This was his one prolific season at Inter, perhaps fuelled by the confidence gained from Italy's World Cup victory that summer. At international level he only managed two goals, but both were in that tournament - one a crucial equaliser in the final. As Serie A is historically the hardest league to score in, for Materazzi to manage 57 career goals in that league earns him the top spot. Hopefully Zidane isn't reading this, but this particular eccentric Italian is one hot-shot defender.
I am from Bangor, aged 24, and possess an MA in Journalism from The University Of Ulster. I have had work published in the Belfast Telegraph and interviewed several local footballers and Olympic athletes. I also run my own sports blog, 'Sporting Thought' in addition to contributing to What Culture.
