Italy's Marco Materazzi falls on the pitch after being headbutted by France's Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final. - file

MILAN, Italy (AP)

Italy defender Marco Materazzi does not want to be remembered only for what he said to Zinedine Zidane in last year's World Cup final, which provoked theformer France midfielder to retaliate with a headbutt.

"I know that I made a mistake, but I am not only those six words," Materazzi said in yesterday's edition of Italian magazine TV Sorrisi E Canzoni.

Materazzi said: "Preferisco la puttana di tua sorella" or "I prefer the whore that is your sister" after Zidane sarcastically offered to give the defender his shirt after the match because he had been pulling it.

Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the chest seconds later with the score at 1-1 on goals by both players.

Sent off for violent conduct

Zidane was sent off for violent conduct in the last game of his stellar career, and Italy went on to win the match 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out.

Materazzi received a two-game ban for incitement and has since apologised to Zidane.

France coach Raymond Domenech said earlier this month that Materazzi did the right thing by getting Zidane sent off.

"I say 'Bravo' to him," the coach said.

However, France captain Patrick Vieira has had little to do with his Inter Milan teammate since the July 9 final.

"Materazzi had an excellent World Cup," Vieira was quoted as saying in yesterday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But the player is one matter and the person another. Materazzi is a personality that you can love or hate, but I can say that I would never sit down beside him to eat."

Materazzi is set to release an autobiography which details the episode, on August 30 in Milan.

He has already profited once from the incident. Last year, he released a book titled Che cosa ho detto veramente a Zidane (What I really said to Zidane), which contained 249 phrases, none of which were actually what he said.