marseillais, and the necessity to shape a raw
talent into something special. Courbis is also
credited with channelling Zidane’s emotions
and coining the Zizou nickname. The latter
helped Zidane establish an alter-ego – Yazid
from the Castellane ghetto was dead, Zizou
the flawed genius was his reincarnation.
“You could see he was an extraordinary
player straight away,” Courbis later said,
“but it was a moment in his career when you
couldn’t afford to do just anything with him.
For example, you couldn’t just give him his
head and burn him out in a season.”
Zidane’s 10 goals in 35 Ligue 1 games in
his first season were testament to Courbis’
influence, but it was after his mentor’s exit
that the prodigy came to world attention. In
1995-96, Bordeaux became the only team to
reach the UEFA Cup final after qualifying for
it by winning the much-maligned Intertoto
Cup, but lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich on
aggregate after knocking out Real Betis and
Milan en route (Zidane provided two assists
in a 3-0 tonking of the Rossoneri, one with
the amusing aid of a ref’s backside). Bordeaux
finished Ligue 1 in a disappointing 16th, but
such was Zidane’s supernatural talent that
Europe’s elite were chasing his signature.
Juve won the fight – and in Turin, he scaled
world football’s summit. In his maiden
season, 1996-97, Zidane won Serie A and
was voted the league’s inaugural Foreign
Footballer of the Year. The following year,
the Old Lady retained their title as Zizou
scored or assisted on 14 occasions. Yet,
because of Champions League final losses
to Dortmund, then a similarly anonymous
display against Real Madrid in 1998 – “we
were s**tting ourselves at facing him,” Raul
later revealed – he was never truly loved in
the Italian Alps. It didn’t help that Zidane
preferred to spend time with Veronique and
nearby Cannes pal Bettoni, unlike compatriot
Michel Platini’s outward gregariousness in
carousing the city during his 1980s peak.
Zidane’s irritability also returned. He’d
react to the sort of niggly fouls that grizzled
Serie A defenders in the ’90s specialised in,
and even carried it into France 98: Zidane’s
World Cup was nearly ruined by a pointlessly
petulant stamp on Fuad Anwar when Les
Bleus were already 2-0 up against Saudi
Arabia. They barely made it through the last
16 against Paraguay without him. No World
Cup would have meant no Ballon d’Or.
In what proved his final Juve season in
2000-01, Zidane headbutted Hamburg’s
Jochen Kientz in a 3-1 October defeat to
earn his second red card of the Champions
League group stage. UEFA threw the book at
him, banning Zidane for five games. Typical
of the coexisting violence and beauty at the
heart of his story, Zidane ended up serving
four games of that suspension at the start of
the following season for Real Madrid. By the
end of 2001-02, the 29-year-old had scored
the greatest goal in tournament history.“Each of us has heaven and hell in him”That Zidane only won one La Liga title and
one Champions League at Real Madrid, andnothing of any consequence post-2003,
seems almost impossible. The Galacticos
defined an era, as first Figo, then Zidane,
Ronaldo and Beckham followed in successive
summers to create the Harlem Globetrotters
of football. There was no better way to
watch the best players in the world.
“He dominates the ball, he is a walking
spectacle and he plays as if he had silk
gloves on each foot – he makes it worthwhile
going to the stadium,” said the notoriously
brusque Di Stefano.
“I enjoyed playing in that team so much,”
Zidane told FFT. “The opposition scored two?
No pasa nada. We’ll score three. It was fun.”
Yet the fun couldn’t last. The financial
necessity brought of the ‘Zidanes y Pavones’- star names supplemented by youth
teamers like Francisco Pavon, who lacked
50 July 2022 FourFourTwo
“I WOULD RATHER DIE
THAn SAY SORRY TO
MATERAZZI. IT WOULD
DISHOnOUR ME”
Aboce Zidane’s
football was never
beige, unlike his
dress sense...
Top Los Galacticos
won fewer titles
than you’d expectZInEDInE
ZIDAnE