Questioned in the columns of The TeamMarcel Desailly pays a beautiful tribute to Zinédine Zidane, with whom he obviously won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. “Zizou” was the star playmaker of these legendary Blues. “His touch on the ball, his control on the ground, in the air and his use of the ball were just magical. The magic is his super flexible hips, his changes of direction. An exceptional artist to whom you give the ball and ask him to invent something”explains “The Rock”.
What we know less is that Zidane received his very first red card by attacking Marcel Desailly. The attacking midfielder saw red 10 times at club, in addition to his exclusion against Saudi Arabia during France’s second match of the 1998 World Cup and his legendary header on Marco Materazzi in the final of the 2006 World Cup.
Zinedine Zidane’s punch
On September 18, 1993, the native of Marseille faced OM, the reigning European champions being led by Fabien Barthez, Basile Boli, Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly, Alain Boghossian, Rudi Völler and Alen Boksic (before the explosion of the team due to the OM-VA affair). After receiving an elbow from Desailly, Zidane takes revenge on a harmless action by throwing a punch in the head of Desailly, who finds himself on the ground, bleeding. Rolland Courbis comforts his young offensive talent, but Bordeaux, who led 1-0, will lose 3-1!
“Ziz’ has the temperament he has. In OM-Bordeaux, we are young… he punches me on a corner because I chipped him with my elbow. He got a little revenge but we never talked about it again. In the French team, I was ready to die for him on the pitch, to protect him and allow him to express himself”thus launches Desailly to
The Team. The two players were teammates for the first time in the selection on August 17, 1994, during Zidane’s sensational debut (a double against the Czech Republic).
Zinédine Zidane congratulated by Leboeuf, Djorkaeff and Desailly during the 1998 final.
