Zinedine Zidane had asked nothing. The icon of tricolor football, a favorite personality of the French for years, has just wiped a frontal and particularly virulent attack. An outing that details in the media landscape, as it attacks an untouchable figure in hexagonal sport. The author of this burden chose to question the inheritance of “Zizou”, putting a painful episode from 2006 on the table. A free attack that risks making a big noise.
The explosive load against the Zidane idol
It was Pierre MĂ©nès who disgusted the grenade. The former Canal+ consultant attacked Zidane violently, establishing a shocking comparison with Thierry Henry. For him, the whim of 2006 against Materazzi was “Too easily forgiven or even glorified”, While he was “More scandalous and inadmissible than Henry's involuntary hand” Against Ireland in 2009. Menès goes even further: “It's Saint Zizou, and his ugly apostles. »»
The journalist denounces what he considers a two weight, two measures. He recalls the
“Board of hatred Subjected by Henry after his hand against Ireland, even revealing that the attacker wanted to stop the French team. “In Zidane, we had looked for and found all the apologies from the world”, he castigates, believing that his gesture had “Probably cost a World Cup with the Blues”.
Glorified zidane, Henry crucified: a cry of anger signed Pierre Ménès
An outing that divides but which raises questions
The argument of Ménès, as brutal as it is, raises a real question on our relationship to icons. Because basically, why was Henry lynched for an instinctive hand when Zidane was absolved for a premeditated whim? The difference in media treatment between the two episodes is actually striking. The first experienced a ordeal, the second remained untouchable despite a gesture of incredible violence in the World Cup final.
Perhaps Ménès, in his assumed provocation, puts his finger on something disturbing: our tendency to prioritize the faults according to the aura of the protagonists. Zidane the artist against Henry the unloved. One forgiven all its differences, the other judged for each gesture. This reflection deserved to be made, even if the form shocks. Sometimes you have to shake up certainties to bring out truths that we prefer to ignore. Even when it hurts.
