Inter defender Marco Materazzi has denied that he said anything to provoke Gennaro Del Vecchio into head-butting him.

The Nerazzurri earned their 14th straight win thanks to goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Maicon, but the Blucerchiati were left with 10 men after the ex-Lecce man saw red for butting the world champion under his chin.

“I did nothing wrong, I only told him to stop it,” said Materazzi to Sky Italia after the match, who was furious with Del Vecchio’s challenge on ‘keeper Julio Cesar.

“Before he was sent off, there had already been a bad challenge on Adriano and immediately after that he did the same thing with our goalkeeper.

“I like aggressive football, but when you see that the ‘keeper has the ball in his hands I think you should stop,” added the Nerazzurro.

“When I saw what he did to Julio Cesar I went to Del Vecchio and told him to stop it, but he hit me with his head. I had a cut in my mouth and it was bleeding.

“I did not fight with Coach Walter Novellino, I only explained to him what had happened.

“I sometimes cause trouble, I have always paid for my mistakes in the past, but this time I did nothing wrong,” concluded Matrix.

Del Vecchio accepted that his reaction could not be defended, although he insisted that he was provoked by his opponent.

“I made a mistake and I apologise for it, but I would like Materazzi to admit that he provoked my reaction,” said the Doriano.

“He said that I wanted to hurt Adriano and Julio Cesar, that is not true. If he had spoken to me in a different way I wouldn’t have reacted that badly. What I did was wrong, but you should read Materazzi’s lips.”