Italy’s Materazzi To Sue English Press

Italian defender Marco Materazzi has opened legal proceedings against a raft of
English newspapers over false reports of his behaviour during last year’s World
Cup final.

Materazzi, who currently plays for Inter Milan, is issuing proceedings in the
High Court against The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Daily Star newspapers for
damages for libel and an injunction.

The claims arise from press reports concerning the incident which took place
in the 2006 World Cup final between Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane, in which
Materazzi was head-butted by Zidane. 

Materazzi’s legal team claims that the newspapers wrongly reported accounts
of insults the defender was alleged to have said to Zidane prior to the incident
and the newspapers have failed to withdraw the allegations or otherwise deal
with Materazzi’s complaints.

His lawyer, Steven Heffer a partner at law firm Collyer Bristow LLP, made the
following statement:  ‘Marco Materazzi is issuing claims in the High Court
against three newspapers, The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Daily Star for damages
for libel and an injunction.

‘He is left with no alternative as all three newspapers have failed to
correct or apologise for their false reports of the incident.  Marco has
suffered enormous damage to his reputation as a result of the press reports.  He
is taking legal action to clear his name.’