A documentary on Italy’s 2006 World Cup triumph is providing some intriguing behind the scenes tales, including the little white lie Daniele De Rossi told Luca Toni after his red card against the USA.
De Rossi was already on a yellow card after the opening match and was warned another booking would rule him out of the third group game against the Czech Republic.
That didn’t help calm the Roma midfielder’s tempestuous approach to the sport and he was shown a straight red card 27 minutes into the United States match for elbowing Brian McBride in the face.
“De Rossi starts telling the referee and everyone around him, ‘I didn’t touch him, I didn’t touch him!’” revealed Toni in the documentary Dark Horses: Italy’s World Cup Triumph.
“I looked over, the American gets up and is covered in blood. I said: ‘Are you quite sure that you didn’t touch him, Dani? Because it looks like you might’ve touched him a little bit…’”
Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro was an eye-witness and did not even try to stand up for his teammate.
“I saw the elbow. When my teammates were trying to plead with the referee, I said forget it, he really clocked him.”
Indeed in the footage, Cannavaro can be seen shoving De Rossi towards the exit.
The Roma man was handed a four-match ban and only returned in time for the Final, where he converted one of the penalties in the decisive shoot-out against France.
He never touched him.