So Zidane’s career ended in disgrace. And maybe we deserve it, too, for the pedestal we placed him on. After the media spent all week lifting the man beyond demi-god status, he came crashing down to earth in a moment of madness reminiscent to that other self-destructing French geniusyou know, Eric Cantona, the man who’s been pitching “joga bonito” all month long on behalf of Nike. In a way, we put Zidane there, we wanted our fairy tale story and perhaps that enormous pressure played a part in causing the man, who’s always coolest customer in town, to implode so disgracefully. That said, both coaches later admitted that the sending off was illegal, as neither the referee nor his assistants actually saw Zidane headbutt Marco Materazzi in real-time. Only after the fourth official alerted them of the television replay did Horatio Elizondo send-off the French captain. Italy coach Marcelo Lippi admitted that the sending-off was illegal, but he dismissed claims by France’s Raymond Domenech that Materazzi had conned the officials. Rather, he said the fourth and fifth officials called attention to it after seeing the TV replays. It’s still unclear what Materazzi said to Zidane, but The Independent said whisperings suggest racist comments or perhaps even an accusation that Zidane had taken illegal steroids while playing at Juventus. Obviously Zidane’s sending-off overshadowed what had to that point been a very watchable final, and one that deserved a winner. Instead, the game lost its purpose in the last ten minutes, and it went on to be decided on penalties, which Italy won 5-3.