Happy Birthday Zinedine Zidane: A look at Zizou’s prolific player and manager career as he competes his half-century
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Zidane is a respected figure among Real Madrid's player and they don't want him to leave
On this day, Zinedine Zidane turns 50. Zidane, a Marseille native, began playing at the age of five. Growing up, he looked up to former Marseille stars Bla Slikovi, Enzo Francescoli, and Jean-Pierre Papin.
With a physical presence that was much outweighed by an elegance you wouldn’t anticipate from a man who stood 6 feet 1 inch tall, Zinedine Zidane, often known as Zizou, was quite simply a marvel on the field.
Recently Zidane revealed: “As a player, I arrived at 9 am at training and left at 1 pm. As a coach, I arrived at 8 am and often returned at 11 pm”. This very well shows the commitment the Frenchman had for the game both as a player and a manager.
Let us take a look at the illustrious career of the legend.
Zinedine Zidane as a player:
There aren’t many players about whom you can genuinely say you don’t know what’s going to happen next. The attacking midfielder, who played for teams like Bordeaux, Juventus, and Real Madrid, made the seemingly impossible possible on the football field, whether it was by cruising past countless challengers, scoring a breathtaking volley in a Champions League final, or having his career ended by a scandalous headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final.
You’ll struggle to find a more revered former player in international football with a Champions League trophy, three league crowns, two intercontinental championships, a European Champions, and a World Cup under his belt, not to forget three FIFA World Player Of The Year honors.
Zinedine Zidane’s career as a manager:
After Rafael Benitez was fired as the first-team coach in January 2016, he was named to the position. He won nine trophies during that time, including three consecutive UEFA Champions League championships, making it a very successful period.
After the three-peat in 2018, he departed the club before coming back in March 2019 to save a Madrid team that was in trouble. Even though he won La Liga in his second season, he was unable to replicate his success on a European scale. As a result, after the conclusion of the 2020–21 campaign, he left once more. In total, Zidane has 11 titles to his name.
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Ujan Chakraborty
(1240 Articles Published)