Podcast guest KampoPhilippe Mexès looked back on his debut with the French team in the early 2000s. Then aged 20, the young defender rubbed shoulders for the first time with the 1998 World Champions, including Zinédine Zidane, who had a profound impact on him. “A person arrived in Clairefontaine with the new phones, the new Motorola, the new Nokia, the portable DVD with the 3-hour battery… I couldn’t buy that. With a new contract, you keep your money”he explained. It was then that Zidane called out to Sylvain Wiltord: “Zidane said to Nino: 'what are you giving him as a gift? You're giving a gift to Djibril, and I'm giving Philippe.' »
Surprised and embarrassed, Mexès did not expect what happened next. “I hadn’t taken anything, I was ashamed, I couldn’t accept that. I'm uncomfortable”he confided. But Zizou didn't let go. “In the evening, I am in my room, I hear a knock. Zinédine enters. He had a portable DVD with the 3 hour battery next to it. And he said to me: “Here, present.” » A gesture that remains engraved in the memory of the former French international: “I was moved, shocked. There, I saw the person it was. »
