Paris: Zinedine Zidane, the former French captain and mid-fielder is glad that that he was punished instantaneously in the 2006 World Cup final otherwise he says that would have made him to with regret for escaping punishment. “It (the sending off) was a very good thing,” the former Real Madrid and Juventus playmaker told France Football magazine in an interview released on Tuesday.

Zidane received a red card for head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final, also the last match of his career, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. “It’s good that (Italian keeper Gianluigi) Buffon signalled what I had done to the referee because it was not pretty. I don’t know how I could have lived with it had France become world champions and I had stayed on the pitch.”

Zidane, who helped France lift the World Cup in 1998, thought there had been an overreaction to Thiery Henry’s handball that led to France beating Ireland in November and securing a 2010 World Cup place. “Many people outside football got involved, people who love you when you lift trophies and let you down when things go wrong. I’m certain Henry is not proud of his gesture.”

“He (Henry) is not a cheat, I know him well,” the former France playmaker, told French television channel Canal Plus on Saturday. “He will get over this,” Zidane added. “He made a mistake, like I made a mistake, even if I’m not making any comparisons. We all make mistakes.”

Henry, Zidane said, had apologised by admitting that he had handled the ball.

“The fact he said there was a handball means he has apologised,” Zidane said. “I’m not saying it was nothing but it was handball, that’s it.”

[Source:IBNLIVE]