Charnwood Norris Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Masterful still in 2013. Mind blowing why he retired in 2006 at only 34. He could of played in euro 2008, WC 2010 and euro 2012. Still looks lean and fit as well.
purpleronnie Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Meh, I was expecting something spectacular.
Fox92 Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I imagine players will always have it, especially at Zidane's level. Great footballer, up there with the best ever, and probably the best footballer in my lifetime so far. He always produced at club level, for his clubs in Europe, and at the highest level in international footballer. Scoring goals in a World Cup final says it all, the definition of one of the greatest footballers ever. Nearly had the chance to meet him as well. We used to go to Portugal every year on holiday, actually met Rui Costa one year, and we went in one of the football shops one year that Zidane, Raul and Figo were in literally 5 minutes before us!
Ashley Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 To think the Alergian coach at the time said he wasn't good enough to play for them when he was first coming through.
leicsmac Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Still the last guy to belong in the true footballing legends pantheon, in my view. He turned it on in the most important games at international, European and domestic level. I know international football has been devalued of late but until Messi or Ronaldo take their team to a World Cup and bring it in a final in the way Zidane/Maradona/Pele did they don't belong in the true legends category IMO, for all their massive achievement at club level.
Fox92 Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Still the last guy to belong in the true footballing legends pantheon, in my view. He turned it on in the most important games at international, European and domestic level. I know international football has been devalued of late but until Messi or Ronaldo take their team to a World Cup and bring it in a final in the way Zidane/Maradona/Pele did they don't belong in the true legends category IMO, for all their massive achievement at club level. Completely agree. The greatest players always influence at the highest level, the World Cup, Zidane, Pele, Cruyff etc. The only exception generally is George Best, who didn't have the chance considering his national team!
ScouseFox Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I fúcking loved Zizou. His goal in that '02 CL Final
FoxLAD Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Still the last guy to belong in the true footballing legends pantheon, in my view. He turned it on in the most important games at international, European and domestic level. I know international football has been devalued of late but until Messi or Ronaldo take their team to a World Cup and bring it in a final in the way Zidane/Maradona/Pele did they don't belong in the true legends category IMO, for all their massive achievement at club level. I have no doubt Messi will have no problem. Infact i think Messi has the potential to even surpass them.
ScouseFox Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I was well gutted when he wasn't the most expensive in the world ever anymore. He deserved to keep that record forever.
Charnwood Norris Posted 3 September 2013 Author Posted 3 September 2013 I fúcking loved Zizou. His goal in that '02 CL Final It was good but not as good as Nalis' vs Leeds in 2003/2004!
Danizen Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Zidane is fantastic. One of the best ever. Messi, Ronaldo and Iniesta are the only current players who can even hope to be as good as he was/is
AKCJ Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I'd love to see a fully fit, peak-of-his-career Zidane play right now. I bet he'd be better than he was. He'd be as good as Messi.
Guest shearfox Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I'd love to see a fully fit, peak-of-his-career Zidane play right now. I bet he'd be better than he was. He'd be as good as Messi. Zidane is one of the best but his era wasn't too different from today... Messi is just too unreal, the only thing Messi is lacking to make him the best ever is a World Cup medal... Zidane for me is the second best behind Messi since I have been watching...
Ashley Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Wasn't he quoted as saying we was gutted because he never got to play with Paul Scholes?
Kitchandro Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 I love Zidane. One of the great football brains and one of the few French footballers I don't dislike.
Tom17LCFC Posted 3 September 2013 Posted 3 September 2013 Possibly my favourite non-leicester player of all time. In love with the man.
Charnwood Norris Posted 3 September 2013 Author Posted 3 September 2013 Wasn't he quoted as saying we was gutted because he never got to play with Paul Scholes? Yes. He said he was the best midfielder he came up against. And there were a lot of good midfielders in his playing days: Roberto Baggio, Del Piero, Keane, Viera, Guordiola, Boban, Requilme, Veron, Recoba, Rivaldo, Dunga, Rui Costa, Xavi, Alonso, gerrard, lampard...etc
bmt Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 Still the last guy to belong in the true footballing legends pantheon, in my view. He turned it on in the most important games at international, European and domestic level. I know international football has been devalued of late but until Messi or Ronaldo take their team to a World Cup and bring it in a final in the way Zidane/Maradona/Pele did they don't belong in the true legends category IMO, for all their massive achievement at club level. I don't disgree with your point but think that is harsh on Ronaldo. Portugal are absolutely crap and Ronaldo has turned them into a decent side for quite a long time, there is no way they could ever win a world cup with the lack of support around him.
indierich06 Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 Completely agree. The greatest players always influence at the highest level, the World Cup, Zidane, Pele, Cruyff etc. The only exception generally is George Best, who didn't have the chance considering his national team! Player like Maradona, Pele and Zidane all played in absolutely outstanding national teams though, it's not like these players won their countries trophies on their own. That's why Ronaldo will never have a international medal to his name, Portugal are absolute dross at the minute. The same goes for Argentina to some extent, who have quality in their squad, but not enough to win a world cup - lots of attacking options (Messi, Higuain, Aguero) but defence is their problem - there's no really world class players in there. It will be tough for Argentina or Portugal to win an international tournament any time soon. IMO, Spain will remain strong over the next few years, but I think Germany will start to dominate before too long.
leicsmac Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 I don't disgree with your point but think that is harsh on Ronaldo. Portugal are absolutely crap and Ronaldo has turned them into a decent side for quite a long time, there is no way they could ever win a world cup with the lack of support around him. Player like Maradona, Pele and Zidane all played in absolutely outstanding national teams though, it's not like these players won their countries trophies on their own. That's why Ronaldo will never have a international medal to his name, Portugal are absolute dross at the minute. The same goes for Argentina to some extent, who have quality in their squad, but not enough to win a world cup - lots of attacking options (Messi, Higuain, Aguero) but defence is their problem - there's no really world class players in there. It will be tough for Argentina or Portugal to win an international tournament any time soon. IMO, Spain will remain strong over the next few years, but I think Germany will start to dominate before too long. The Argentina 1986 side (according to reports at the time) was distinctly average, but Maradona dragged them almost single handedly (forgive the pun, and Kempes aside) to the World Cup that year. Ditto with France 1998 - they were solid defensively but Zidane aside extremely unspectacular. And he provided the extra edge to take them all the way. I guess the standard of international football has increased in the intervening years so such things aren't really possible anymore - a single man running a team and them progressing far in a World Cup, that is - but so far I've not even really seen just one inspirational performance from either Messi or Ronaldo against a big international team on the big international stage (World Cup or Euros). When Argentina/Portugal went out in WC 2010/Euro 2012 both of them went missing in those matches, and didn't inspire their colleagues in the same way Zidane/Maradona/Pele would.
Guest MattP Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 Player like Maradona, Pele and Zidane all played in absolutely outstanding national teams though, it's not like these players won their countries trophies on their own. That's why Ronaldo will never have a international medal to his name, Portugal are absolute dross at the minute. The same goes for Argentina to some extent, who have quality in their squad, but not enough to win a world cup - lots of attacking options (Messi, Higuain, Aguero) but defence is their problem - there's no really world class players in there. It will be tough for Argentina or Portugal to win an international tournament any time soon. IMO, Spain will remain strong over the next few years, but I think Germany will start to dominate before too long. Only Pele of those three did.
ScouseFox Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 There's a difference between a very solid France '98 team (which did have other stars bar Zizou) being given a slight extra flair and dimension by him and a Portugal team captained by Ronaldo who's next best standard of players is Helder Postiga, Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves. You could put Zidane, Pele and Messi in this current Portugal team and I'd still wager they'd struggle to get past a semi final.
MooseBreath Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 Both Messi and Ronaldo are a fair bit better than Zidane imo. Not sure of Zidanr was so much above your Scholes and Gerrard's of this world. Certainly requiring players to have won the world cup before they can be described as legends is a bit flawed, especially for the likes of Gareth Bale who could put in several of the best performances ever seen and still Wales would go out to someone like Bulgaria.
Stadt Posted 4 September 2013 Posted 4 September 2013 Both Messi and Ronaldo are a fair bit better than Zidane imo. Not sure of Zidanr was so much above your Scholes and Gerrard's of this world. Certainly requiring players to have won the world cup before they can be described as legends is a bit flawed, especially for the likes of Gareth Bale who could put in several of the best performances ever seen and still Wales would go out to someone like Bulgaria.I agree, if you had to win a World Cup to be considered a legend than there are very few legends, Bergkamp never won a World Cup but I'd consider him to be a true legend of the game.
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