So… you know what upsets me? How people act like Zidane was this natural
talent, who had it so easy, you know? They act like he came out of the womb wearing
a Juventus shirt… when really, he was already 25 when he first
stepped foot in Italy… That’s 8 seasons and 265 matches… but
still… If you ask most football fans, they know nothing
about it… If you’re lucky you’ll get the same old
story about how, 1 year before his move to Turin, Kenny Dalglish had asked the owner
of Blackburn to sign Zidane, only for him to reply: “Why do you want to sign “Zidane”
when we have Tim Sherwood?”... And that’s exactly where the problem lies… As one newspaper put it “Though the world
has now decided that he is unanimously great, Zidane was a hard code to decipher at first,
as all one of a kind footballers are”... Zidane was weird… Forget the “untrained eye”, even the greatest
talent scouts in the world could not see past what they claimed was a “lanky, sluggish
midfielder with no personality or grit”... Even Arsene Wenger, the same man who spotted
some french kid struggling in Italy and turned him into the deadliest striker the Premier
League had ever seen… Even he turned down Zidane when he was back
at Monaco… In fact… for a long time, there were only
a few people who seemed to truly realize the potential he had… You see, after France won the Euro 2000, most
players just went about celebrating any way they could… But Zidane, the player of the tournament,
the one who had carried them to glory… he drove down to Marseille because before he
even went on holiday, he wanted to hug his mom… As a member of the french staff once said:
“Zidane is the superstar who could be your next-door neighbor”... In fact, his quiet, withdrawn, almost timid
personality was one of the things that made his talent so difficult to spot… While most all time greats seem to be these
larger than life personalities… Zidane just wanted a hug from his mom… But that wasn’t the point… what I meant
to tell you was that, while he was down there, he got the news that a man named Robert Centenero
was in the hospital struggling for his life… and Zidane did not even think twice, he postponed
his holiday and kept him company for what were the last few days of his life… But why was he so important to him? Well… Back when Zinedine was still Yazid… because
believe it or not, he didn’t like his first name when he was a kid… Centenero was the first person to scout Yazid
and even if the best he could do was take him to a tiny local club, Séptemes de Vallons…
it meant a lot to him, as he would say: “He did everything for me… He’d drive me to training, he would even
give me money so that I could buy food on the weekends. He was like a father to me”... And it was even thanks to Centenero, that
Yazid met maybe the only man who would have an even bigger impact on his career… Monsieur Varraud… About a year after the two met, Centenero
convinced Yazid to take part in a tournament organized by AS Cannes where schoolboys teamed
up in hopes of getting scouted, but unfortunately for Yazid, he was benched… but just as it
seemed he would not even get a chance to shine, the boy who was playing in his position broke
his wrist and was taken to the hospital, so Yazid took over his role and put down an immense
performance… only there was no one there to watch him… The scout on duty that day was the famous
Monsieur Varraud and unfortunately for Yazid he had offered to drive the injured kid to
a clinic, so he never saw him… In fact, it took 2 years and 3 months for
the two to cross paths again… and how did it happen? Well, Monsieur Varaud was in the region to
watch a trial for an inter league tournament but then the player he was supposed to watch
was benched, so he wandered around the premises until he spotted none other than the father
of the boy that he had driven to the hospital years earlier, so the two got to talking while
watching the kids play, until one stood out so much to Varraud, that he asked: “who
is number 13?” and the man told him: “That’s the kid who replaced my son when you helped
us, don’t you remember him? His name is Yazid”... By the end of that match, even though Yazid
was not even picked by the organizers of the trial, Varraud was convinced he had spotted
the next french great, as he said “He had hands where his feet were supposed to be”... Just imagine if they had never crossed paths
again… Regardless, not authorized to bring players
to the club, Varraud convinced one of the directors at Cannes to come down to watch
the kid and in Yazid’s own words: “I remember that game… I wasn’t too good, they played me all the
way back in defense, but I wanted to impress so badly, I risked everything… One time I tried to pull off a sombrero in
my own box, lost the ball and pretty much gave a goal away… I don’t know what they saw that day, but
in the end they still wanted me”... In fact, the director who watched him that
day, Jean Claude Elineau, wanted him at his club so bad that when his parents began insisting
that they didn’t want him living in an academy without proper parental figures around… He invited him to stay in the bedroom of his
own son who had left for the military, pretty much raising him alongside his two other kids…
and let me tell you, as quiet as he was, that would still be no easy task, because as we
all know by now Yazid had a temper… If anyone ever dared mock his family or his
origins in the ghetto, Yazid would not talk back, he would hit back… And indeed, It wasn’t long before he was
sent off for punching a player, but thankfully, again, he had someone by his side, as Jean
Claude told him: “This is the curse of the gifted player… You will have to learn to ignore their words
or you will spend the rest of your life on the sidelines, watching others play… If you need to let off some steam, just scrub
the locker rooms or something… I don’t know”... That last part was supposed to be just a bunch
of empty words, but Yazid took them literally, the next day, after everyone left, they found
him there, with a bucket and a mop… as one of the coaches would say: “Yazid was an
example… He barely spoke, he always listened and then
he acted”... However, Yazid was far from “making it”,
in fact around that same time, he got called up for the French under-17s for the first
time but even then they mixed up his name with someone else and sent him a letter addressed
to “Sincédrie Zidane”... that’s how irrelevant he was back then… In fact, it would probably have taken ages
before he made it to the first team had it not been for Monsieur Varraud yet again…
as the senior team manager would tell the story: “One day, Varraud came, asking me
to come see this kid training in the pitch next to ours, I kept telling him that I was
tired, that I needed to go home, that I’d see him another time… but he insisted so
much that even though I didn’t want to, I gave it a look… and for 25 minutes, I
could not take my eyes off him… I was mesmerized… As I stood there, a board member walked by
and said “You’re looking at that Under 18, uh? He seems really good”... What he didn’t realize was that Yazid was
still only 16…” Regardless, from that day onwards, Yazid began
training with the first team and only a few months later he got his debut… In fact when he got handed five thousand euros
of prize money for his first appearance, as he said it himself: “It was 5 or 6 times
more money than I had in my account so I thought “This time, I’m gonna buy myself something
nice” so I went to the Levi’s store and got a new pair of pants… the rest I sent
to my mom… Regardless, that was the day I realized that
I really could go pro”... And so, even when the board came in his way
and pretty much banned the coach from playing Yazid, calling him a “dancer”, claiming
that a team who was fighting to stay up could not be putting the club’s fate in the hands
of some kid, even saying that they weren’t spending a fortune on wages, just for the
more experienced players to stay on the bench … But regardless, Yazid didn’t care, once
again he put his head down and outworked everyone… Every day he stayed behind in training practicing
his touch against a wall and after a season without playing a single minute, they finally
caved in and let him play… and as Ibrahimovic would go on to say: “When Zidane stepped
onto the pitch, the 10 other guys suddenly got better. It is that simple. It was magic.” and that was exactly what happened… That year Yazid finally became Zidane…And
not only did Cannes play the greatest league campaign in their history, but he was by far
the protagonist… He went as far as making sure that the only
goal he scored, the first of his career, was named the goal of the year… It was a goal so impressive for a kid his
age that the president of the club even gave him a red Renault Clio as reward, since after
all he had noticed that, at that point, Zidane didn’t even have his own car… By the end, though it had been 44 years since
Cannes had last managed to even place in the league’s top 10, suddenly they were in 4th
place and had qualified for the UEFA Cup… and as you might imagine, this attracted a
lot of attention, especially from Marseille, who not only was Zidane’s childhood club
and had won the league, but had also just made it to the final of the Champions League… There was only one problem… At that point, Zidane was out on mandatory
military service and thought they would still allow him to travel back and forth so he could
play for his team… It wouldn’t be until new year’s before
he got discharged so Marseille decided to wait it out… But unfortunately, by then, with Zidane having
to split his time between the army and the club, Cannes’ performances had dropped massively,
being knocked out in the second round of the UEFA Cup and sitting all the way down below
the relegation line… Suddenly, Zidane didn’t look as appealing
as before, so they began working out a deal where they would get him for a smaller fee
after sending their new signing Alen Boksic on loan to Cannes… but in the middle of
it all, Lyon got upset as they had lost on the signing of Boksic only for Marseille to
send him on loan immediately, which, at the time was illegal… and just as they decided
wether or not to sue them… Boksic just happened to debut precisely as
Cannes faced Lyon and ended up getting their keeper sent off and costing them points, which
sent them off the edge, eventually winning the lawsuit and getting all of those deals
cancelled… Meaning that by the end of the year, with
Zidane having struggling to get back in form and even picking up an injury, Marseille went
back on their word and refused to sign him, with their manager even claiming that he was
“too slow”... As Marseille were mere months away from winning
the Champions League, Zidane was on his way to the second tier… Only a year after tasting glory for the first
time, Zidane was back to being a nobody… But that’s exactly when a miracle happened… With Cannes struggling financially, Bordeaux’s
entourage met with them in an attempt to poach two of their players, Jean-François Daniel
and Eric Guérit… but once the meeting started, the Cannes representatives began naming all
the players they were willing to let go off, and in the words of their manager Rolland
Courbis: “Once I heard the name Zidane, I began massacring the president’s toes
under the table… 5 minutes later, for a small check of 3 million
francs, we left with Zizou in our basket”... Obviously, joining newly promoted Bordeaux
was not even close to what Zidane expected from that season, but first of all, at least
he was still at the top tier and secondly… Well, waiting for him in that locker room
were two guys who would conquer the world alongside him… I’m talking about Cristopher Dugarry and
Bixente Lizarazu… The moment those three began joining forces,
Zidane hit a whole new level, as one of the coaches at the club said: “When he arrived,
we saw an introvert, a kid who doubted himself, but with every single one of us around him,
his confidence grew every day, we gave him the self belief he needed to reach his potential”...
and Zidane knew this too, as he would say one day: “Bordeaux was precisely what I
needed in that moment, not just in football terms, but in my life… There, one way or another, I became a man”... And by the end of the season, he had done
it again, Bordeaux were somehow 4th in the league and had qualified for the UEFA Cup… Even more impressive, after insisting all
year that he was not an attacking midfielder but actually “a facilitator”... Zidane was Bordeaux's top scorer with 10 league
goals… And the next year, though he would have his
first moment of madness, punching Desailly in the face midway through a match then he
scored past Oliver Kahn and led Bordeaux to revalidate their 4th place finish, meaning
that by August, everyone had forgotten about it… not only was Zidane handed the league’s
young player of the year award, but he was called up to the French national team for
the very first time… and he made sure to make it as memorable as possible… You see, France had not even made it to the
previous world cup, which was especially concerning, given that they were hosting the next one… And since they did not wanna get embarrassed
in their own turf, Aimé Jacquet had been handed the task of building a new side out
of the wreckage of the previous squad, so that day, with Djorkaeff out of the squad,
he asked Zidane if he was ready for his debut and in his usually overly humble style, he
told him that Corentin Martins was much better prepared for the match, so Jacquet left him
on the bench… there was only a little problem… 60 minutes in, they were losing 2 nil to the
Czech Republic…. so in a desperate attempt to try to keep France’s
pride untouched, Jacquet took the risk of sending Zidane in for Martins and the result
was simple… with 5 minutes to go, Zidane took the ball, made it past one, then two
and smacked it in from 30 yards out… as everyone expected this kid to lose his mind
celebrating, he merely hurried back to the center of the pitch… because his mission
wasn’t over… that only came 2 minutes later, when he leveled the match with a bullet
header… as the cameras cut to the bench, you could see it in their faces: “We’ve
found our man”... Regardless, with Zidane struggling with recurring
injuries, the next season, after a disappointing exit in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup, Bordeaux
disappointed even further by dropping down to 7th place in the table… but as it seemed
they would be out of the european competitions, they were handed a lifeline as UEFA took over
the Intertoto Cup and offered the winner a place in the UEFA Cup… It was right around that moment that Newcastle
supposedly were offered the chance to sign Zidane for only 1.2 million pounds, but as
we all know, they did not take it and quickly that proved to be a gigantic mistake… In the first match of the Intertoto, Zidane
scored a stunner only 6 minutes in… 8 minutes after that he got an incredible assist…
and in the second half not only did he start the counter attack that led to their 4th goal
but scored the fifth through some real Zidane magic…and from there on out, he kept going,
3 free kicks scored over the next 3 matches, but once they were in the final… Zidane added a bit of his usual flair, getting
a 3 match ban for hitting another player with an elbow to the chin… thankfully that didn’t
stop them from winning the whole thing and, ironically, it was right around that time
that Cantona was also serving his ban for kung fu kicking a fan… and Zidane made sure
to take advantage of his absence to completely cement his position as the new star of the
team, not just assisting the opener in their decisive qualifier against Hagi’s Romania
but then scoring a stunner to secure their place at the Euros… but hey, if you think
that was a beautiful goal, just hear me out… Once he had served his ban, the next round
was against Real Betis and not only did he score the winning goal… but the goal itself
... .well it was a 40 yard volley taken straight from a goal kick… If there was a Puskas award back then, he’d
probably have won it… but still it was nothing next to what happened in their quarter final
match… So look, that year AC Milan somehow ended
up in the UEFA Cup, which was especially impressive because they had been to the final of the
Champions League in every single one of the previous three seasons… or if you prefer
they had been in 5 out of the previous 7 finals… They were basically undefeatable, you could
argue they were the scariest team since Di Stefano’s Real Madrid… and to make things
worse for Bordeaux… they lost the first leg 2 nil… as one newspaper
wrote “Bordeaux and the UEFA Cup were just a palette cleanser to be dispatched before
they returned to the high table to swill champagne around their gums again”... There was no hope that they could make a comeback… In fact guess who had been the last team to
beat them by 3 goals or more in the Champions League? Di Stefano Real Madrid… yeah… but then
well… The Bordeaux players noticed that the Italians
were far too relaxed during warm up so they gave it everything they had and 14 minutes
in they went in front… In fact, with every passing minute it became
more and more obvious that Zidane was the best player on the pitch and by the hour mark,
with a bit of help from the referee, he assisted Dugarry and only 6 minutes later he nutmegged
Desailly, then glided across the pitch and made the impossible possible… 3 nil for Bordeaux with the entire world watching… And once Zidane assisted Dugarry yet again
in the very next game, pretty much putting them in the final, I’m guessing lady luck
was done with them… since from there on out, everything went wrong… Zidane and Dugarry missed the first leg of
the final through suspension and even once they made it back, first Lizarazu went out
injured and then they conceded through a deflection… The result was a 5 to 1 defeat on aggregate… But regardless, at 25 years of age, that run
had finally been enough to convince the country of how great Zidane was and so, even after
getting involved in a car crash that left him seriously bruised from head to toe, struggling
to get back to fitness, Aimé Jacquet did not even think twice, the league’s new player
of the year had to be at the Euros… and even through all of that Zidane got within
inches of getting them to the final… Still, even with that done, Newcastle once
again decided against signing cause they thought he was “overrated”, Sir Alex made the
same poor judgment call because “he didn’t wanna upset Cantona”.... but Juventus…
they believed he was the key to stop Milan's dominance so they decided to risk it… and
once he signed the papers, you know who he called first? Madame Ellineau… Two years later, he was the FIFA World Player
Of The Year and had taken Juventus to 2 Serie A titles and 2 Champions League finals…
