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It's no secret that Khabib Nurmagomedov is a huge football fan. He follows the English Premier League as well as La Liga, and has said on multiple occasions that he had always dreamed of becoming a football player himself.
'The Eagle' often shares posts about the sport on his social media accounts, and in a latest Instagram story, Khabib looked back on one of the most infamous moments in FIFA World Cup history.
The incident took place during the final of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which saw France and Italy battle it out for the trophy on July 9.
Even though Italy took the World Cup home for the fourth time in a nail-biting penalty shootout finish, the match would go down in history for the iconic moment between the French captain Zinedine Zidane and the Italian defender Marco Materazzi. Ironically, the two were also the respective scorers for their teams that night before the match went into extra time.
With the match tied 1-1 in the 110th minute of the match, Zidane was seen jogging past Materazzi calmly, only to suddenly turn and ram his head straight into the Italian's chest and drop him to the ground.
The uncharacteristically violent incident drew the curtain on a legendary career in the most shocking manner as Zidane was shown a red card.
It was initially believed that Materazzi had made unsavory comments about Zidane's family, which the Italian defender later admitted to the media.
Here's the video of the incident that Khabib Nurmagomedov shared on his Instagram story.
Khabib Nurmagomedov had a childhood dream of becoming a footballer
As mentioned before, Khabib Nurmagomedov has fostered a lifetime of admiration for football.
After attending a Champions League match in February between Barcelona and PSG, the former UFC lightweight champion took to Instagram once again to express his love for the sport.
"I love football since childhood and have always dreamed of becoming a football player, but I was born in Dagestan and there you yourself know what is the priority. Who knows, maybe if Ronaldo was born in Dagestan, he would also become @ufc champion. In general, I want to say that football is a sport 👊 And in my opinion, I became a fighter by accident 😁 I'm kidding not by accident. Someday I will tell you about my hobby for football as a child and how I, while sitting in a lesson (in the 6th grade), wrote 200 football names on a notebook (then there was no Internet). I was glad to visit this legendary stadium and watch such a confrontation live," Khabib Nurmagomedov wrote in the caption in Russian.
Since his retirement from MMA, Khabib Nurmagomedov has even hinted at a possible new career in football. He has claimed to be a free agent and is open to offers to play for any club.
