Real Madrid can pip Barcelona to the La Liga title on Saturday even though their destiny is out of their hands, coach Zinedine Zidane said on the eve of the season finale.
Marco Materazzi is writing a book of jokes about the incident with Zinedine Zidane.
Striker Thierry Henry says he considered retiring from the international game after France's disappointing performance at Euro 2004.
Italy defender Marco Materazzi has finally revealed the exact words he used to provoke Zinedine Zidane into headbutting him in last year's World Cup final.
Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is unsure of his future at the club despite leading them to the Champions League final.
Exactly four months after succeeding Rafael Benitez and inheriting a Real Madrid side on the brink of institutional crisis, Zinedine Zidane completed the team's revival by guiding them past Manchester City to the Champions League final.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that plans were afoot for the two players to be reunited.
The Welsh winger is thriving in the absence of Ronaldo and Madrid have three wins from four La Liga matches.
'I brought up his sister and that wasn't a nice thing, that is true,' said the Italian defender.
Here, Reuters Sport highlights five reasons why last season's double winners have collapsed.
Wayne Rooney of England and the Netherlands' Ruud van Nistelrooy continue to lead the goal scorers' list with four goals each.
The scorers' list after the conclusion of the group league stage at the Euro 2004 football championship.
'Zinedine Zidane will be given the right to be heard by means of a written statement,' FIFA said.
The prize is awarded to the most valuable player in the 32-team tournament. The decision will be announced on Monday.
Have you joined the rediff fan club to support your favourite football team in the World Cup 2006?
Zinedine Zidane overcame the biggest challenge of his fledgling coaching career as Real Madrid brushed aside VfL Wolfsburg to overturn a first-leg deficit and reach the Champions League semi-finals.
Real Madrid will carry their momentum from Saturday's 'Clasico' victory over rivals Barcelona into their Champions League quarter-final first leg at struggling VfL Wolfsburg on Wednesday, coach Zinedine Zidane said. Real scored their first league win at the Nou Camp since 2012, inflicting the first home defeat for Barcelona since February 2015. "It is very important to have got the win here for our confidence and for the remainder of the season and with it coming right before our Champions League game in Germany," said Zidane. "We know just how important the Champions League is and we want to advance, so winning here in Barcelona was very important." The Frenchman took over from Rafael Benitez at the start of the year and on Saturday came through his first big test with flying colours.
France might be 'India's best friend' as the French president put it, but the fact remains that the share of France in India's foreign trade is today only 1.8 percent. Though Sarkozy declared that he would like at least 1,000 small and medium size companies to enter the Indian market, it is easier said than done.
Zinedine Zidane has said he would like to return to the world of football, not sure in which role.
The Italian defender ended Ronaldinho's two-year reign as World Player of the Year after he also succeeded the Barcelona playmaker as European Footballer of the Year.
Zinedine Zidane was warmly welcomed by a nation that has long seen the player of Algerian ancestry as an icon.
Fabio Cannavaro, Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane have been shortlisted for the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
zidane Image: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images. An elated but pragmatic Zinedine Zidane has quickly turned his mind from the Champions League victory against AS Roma to Real Madrid's seemingly impossible task to catch Barcelona in La Liga. Real are getting better under Zidane, unbeaten in seven matches in all competitions after Wednesday's 2-0 win in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Rome, thanks to a brilliant Cristiano Ronaldo. But only a couple of hours earlier, Barcelona had left Real and Atletico Madrid with a tough task to overhaul them in the league race when they secured a six-point cushion with a 3-1 win at Sporting Gijon. With 14 matches to go for all the teams in La Liga, Barcelona have 60 points to Atletico's 54 and Real's 53 and are favourites to win a sixth title in eight seasons. "We are seven points behind and it will be difficult, but we are giving it everything and we are all happy," Zidane was quoted as saying on the Real website (www.realmadrid.com).
Saturday's game should give Barcelona's teenage Argentine Lionel Messi the chance to pit his skills against Real Madrid's Brazilian wizard Robinho.
Ronaldinho is bidding to lift the trophy for the third year in a row.
Real Madrid have no intention of making a quick profit on striker Alvaro Morata after the Champions League winners opted to take him back to the Bernabeu from Juventus last month, the Spanish side's manager Zinedine Zidane has said. Real sold Morata to Juventus two seasons ago but included a buy-back clause in his contract, which they exercised in July after the forward scored 27 goals in 93 games in Italy and three for Spain during the European Championship.
Ronaldo helped Real Madrid to a second consecutive Champions League title and finished as the tournament's top scorer with 12 goals earlier this year.
The Real Madrid midfielder dislocated his right shoulder during his side's 3-0 defeat by Bayer Leverkusen.
Karim Benzema netted a second-half hat-trick as Real Madrid got back to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Sunday.
Milan Baros, with five goals, emerged the top scorer of the tournament which saw 77 goals being scored.\n\n
The midfielder will captain France in an international friendly against Ivory Coast on August 17.
FIFA discriminated against Italy when it decided to punish defender Marco Materazzi, Italy's sports minister said.
Former France captain Zinedine Zidane will appear before FIFA's disciplinary committee in Zurich on Thursday to give his account of the incident in which he head-butted an opponent in the World Cup final.
Zinedine Zidane said he attacked Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final to defend the honour of his mother and sister.
The France captain's head-butt on Italy defender Marco Materazzi is the subject of a song that aims to be a holiday hit.
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