FLASHPOINT ... France's Zinedine Zidane headbuts Italy's Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final

ZINEDINE ZIDANE and Marco Materazzi have finally buried the hatchet following their bust-up at the 2006 World Cup final.

Zidane was playing his last match as a professional but saw red after head-butting the Italian defender in the chest during extra time.

Materazzi had made a derogatory remark about Zidane's sister after the France legend complained the Inter Milan centre-back had pulled his shirt throughout the game.

But Materazzi revealed the two have now settled their differences following a chance meeting in a hotel car park in Milan last November.

The former Italy international said: "I didn't mention it before because I thought it was supposed to remain between the two of us — the sort of the thing that goes on in private and is best left that way.

"He was with his brother and a friend. I was with one of my best friends. I was there for Jose Mourinho — he was there for Real Madrid.

"We bumped into each other in this car park reserved for the hotel manager. It was a chance meeting.

"I said to him that I was sorry about what had happened and that for me it was all in the past.

"He replied 'no problem, don't worry about it' and we shook hands. That's where it ended, man to man, a very nice moment."

However, Materazzi went on to claim the Frenchman had inisitally failed to realise who he was.

Materazzi added: "That handshake was more to his advantage than it was to mine because everyone — maybe even people in Italy — would have said 'what a gentleman Zidane still is, to even shake hands with that piece of s***.'

"But then all he could come up with was that he hadn't recognised me — he thought I was a fan!

"He's scored an own goal there. If I had been in his shoes, I would have remembered very clearly the person who ended my career with the whole world watching!"