Crowned champion under the jersey of the French team, consecutively during the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, Zinedine Zidane experienced his first major disappointment in the selection during the 1996 European Nations Championship in England. The French playmaker and his teammates were eliminated at the gates of the final by the Czech Republic (0-0, tab 5-6). During this tournament, the former darling of the Blues had displayed a level far from that which was usually his and had even mentioned his desire to take a break after this failure.
“For a while, say my month of vacation, I really needed to get it all out. I wasn’t saturated with football, I love it too much to be saturated with it, but I was so tired! And then, I was also affected mentally, because the Euro had not gone for me as I wanted, nor as was expected of me. I had to cut it after a very long season. I tried to be positive, to tell myself that this first big competition which went badly for me will do me good later, that it prepared me for the World Cup. I wasn’t ready, I had to be tougher than that, that’s all.”confided Zidane to The Team shortly after Euro 96.
“It’s a reality that I’m not making up”
One of the reasons for the child from Castellane’s poor form was a car accident that occurred before the competition, from which he had not yet fully recovered.“I don’t want to make excuses. After all, if it’s this clear today, I just had to say it before the matches. But for me, before the matches, I wanted to play, to get over all that (…) Simply, three months after the accident, I still have pain behind my thigh, and it’s a reality that I’m not making up. There, I realize that I was really touched”he specified.
