Sixteen years ago, the Italian national team won the World Cup in Germany, with legendary former Inter defender Marco Materazzi playing a key role in the triumph.

Yesterday marked the sixteenth anniversary of the Azzurri’s triumph in the semi-final against the host nation Germany, in a dramatic match which saw them reach the final very late on in extra time.

Materazzi looked back on that classic match in a post on his Instagram account.

He captioned the post, “Triple whistle, and we’re in the final. I wanted to hug my teammates, but the referee was the closest.”

 

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A post shared by Marco Materazzi (@marcomaterazzi)