Five reasons why Zidane is the greatest football player of all time

Zidane Pulse Live Uganda

It is clear that Zidane is underrated and, based on his skills and achievements alone, there’s a case for saying he is the greatest player of all time. We shall look at five reasons why he should be called the greatest player of all time:

1. Leadership skills: The great military Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Before Zidane came on the scene, France had never won a World Cup and had lost all hope in doing so. Yet in 1982 to 1986, France arguably had had one of greatest midfields of all time. It was the called 'the magic square'. This involved the players keeping a narrow midfield with attacking full backs. Michel Platini, Jean Tigana, Alain Jean Giresse along defensive midfielder Luis Fernandez made up the square and helped the team win the European Championships in 1984. Despite their brilliance, they never won the World Cup. After falling to Germany in the semifinals of the 1986 World Cup, many French believed that they would never assemble such a world beating team again. That was until 1998, when Zidane led a powerful team which swept aside all the competition before it and restored the country’s hope.

He was elegance personified Pulse Live Uganda

2. Zidane received many individual accolades as a player, including being named the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or. He was Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 1996, Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2001, and La Liga Best Foreign Player in 2002. Certainly, Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won many of these accolades, with scoring statistics to match. However, Zidane won the World Cup and scored twice in the 1998 final against Brazil. This feat alone was equaled by Pele, who scored twice in the final to help Brazil to their first ever FIFA World Cup title, Kylian Mbappe, Ronaldo (the Brazilian) and Geoff Hurst (he scored three). Messi and Ronaldo do not feature here at all.

His statistics speak for themselves Pulse Live Uganda

3. Zidane’s goals: He was not known for the many goals his scored because he dealt in quality as opposed to quantity. Zidane’s most iconic goal is something out of a fairytale. His ability to play with both feet was shown in the 2002 Champions League Final. It was the winning goal, a left-footed volley from Roberto Carlos’s cross, that left everyone stunned. You would be hard-pressed to find a Messi or Ronaldo goal which could match it.

4. He stood out in a team of standouts: During the 2000s, the term “Galacticos” referred to the Real Madrid team of superstars. They were simply the best players in the world with players such as Roberto Carlos. Steve McManaman, Raul Gonzalez, Guti, Luiz Ronaldo, David Beckham, Luis Figo, Sergio Ramos and, of course, Zidane. They all played beautiful football, but Zidane was the undoubted best of the best.

Zidane and Ronaldo Pulse Live Uganda

5. Skill: He has been described as the most elegant player of all time, gliding past players with the skill of a dancer possessed by the spirits of Chris Brown, Michael Jackson, Usher Raymond, Fred Astaire and MC Hammer. His dribbling was so uqniue that it has been categorised by its own names: The Marseille turn, also known as the 360, the Spin, the Mooresy Roulette, the Roulette, the Girosflin, and the double drag-back…skills peculiar to Zidane in that nobody did them better.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pulse as its publisher.