The Times:
One butt, several ifs. While not quite Zidane: je ne regrette rien, the former midfield player's second trial by television in four days was no doe-eyed Martin Bashir-style confessional. C'est la vie. Just don't try this at home, kids.
Eight years to the day after Zinédine Zidane scored twice against Brazil to win France their first World Cup and his face was projected on to the Arc de Triomphe, he appeared on small screens across the nation to explain why he played the bull to Marco Materazzi's taunting toreador in Berlin on Sunday.
The 34-year-old wore ripped jeans with a dark green combat-style jacket. Almost camouflage gear — aptly, since he was hiding something. He did not reveal precisely what Materazzi had said to him. The attire, modest yet militaristic and passive-aggressive, summed up Zidane's attitude: sorry that children saw the head-butt, but otherwise unrepentant
His deportment radiated quiet self-assurance. He referred to being "ten minutes away from ending my career" — rather than, say, from winning the World Cup. He explained that he chipped his early penalty because he wanted to do something special, since it was the final. Most players would simply think about scoring, never mind pondering issues of artistic merit.
Michel Denisot, one of France's leading news and sport presenters, popped the questions on CanalPlus, but perhaps not since Steve Cram's gentle amble through Paula Radcliffe's marathon misfortune in the Athens Olympics in 2004 has there been a more sympathetic interview of an under-fire sporting figure.
Immediately afterwards, Zidane gave an interview to another leading journalist, Claire Chazal, on TF1. He admitted to having a dark side: "I'm a human being and it has to be accepted, but I always try to be true to who I am."
His statement:
"I would like to apologise because a lot of children were watching the match. I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said.
"There was no tension with Materazzi before or during the match. He just put his hand on to my shirt and I told him to stop. I told him that if he wanted it I could give it to him at the end of the match.
"Then he said very harsh words to me and repeated them several times. I left but then I went back towards him and things went very fast. The words he said concerned my mother and sister. I heard them once, then twice, and the third time I couldn't control myself.
"I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would have rather been knocked down than hear that.
"I will go and I will tell everything I have just said," he added. "The reaction is always punished but if there is no provocation there is no reaction. The guilty person is the one who provokes.
"If I reacted that way, it is because something bad happened. Do you really believe that 10 minutes before the end of my career I would be able to make such a bad gesture? The provocation was very serious."