'My son was the real victim', says Materazzi's father

London, July 11: As the whole world awaits Zinedine Zidane's account on why he head-butted Marco Materazzi in the World Cup finals, the Italian defender's father says instead of the French captain it was his son who was provoked and ended up being the real victim in the incident.

''I spoke to my son briefly after the game. Marco had told me he had been provoked. It's as though they have something against him each time,'' Giuseppe Materazzi told the BBC Sport.

''In the past two years, Marco has only been on the receiving end and the injuries he has sustained are proof of this. I don't want to be controversial, but there are things that have to be said instead of just pointing the finger and putting a black mark against someone,'' Materazzi senior added in defence of his son who is being held responsible for provoking Zidane for his violent reaction.

An anti-racism group SOS Racism had earlier stated that the Golden Ball winner was called a ''Dirty Terrorist'' by the Materazzi leading him to the headbutt.

Materazzi, however, denied the allegation and said he didn't even know the meaning of the words being attributed to him.

''It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means,'' the defender was quoted by the Italian news agency Ansa as saying.

However, Zidane's agent Alain Migliaccio said ''very serious'' comments were made by Materazzi which led to the violent reaction by the French captain.

''He told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn't tell me what,'' Migliaccio told BBC Five Live Sport.

''He is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him. He was very disappointed and sad. He didn't want it to end this way,'' he added.

Support for the maestro has been pouring in since the incident with his teammates rallying around him and defender William Gallas was the latest to publicly speak out in Zidane's favour.

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''I didn't see it but sometimes football is not only with the ball. Sometimes when you have a player who is very clever and says something to you then maybe you are angry and want to 'kill' that player,'' Gallas, who plays for Chelsea told BBC Sport.

Gallas was also adamant that his skipper was provoked and would not have reacted had it not been something serious.

''I don't know what he said. You'll have to ask him but he's gone. I know why he's gone because maybe he's done something wrong,'' he said referring to Materazzi's refusal to answer any query on the incident.

Gallas also talked about the locker room atmosphere after the incident and said Zidane did not talk to anybody after the incident.

''Zidane didn't say anything. He was very disappointed for everybody -- for the team and himself. I am very sad for him. It was his last World Cup and everybody wanted to win for him,'' he said.

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