The scarred French messiah
Meanwhile, after France's World Cup 2002 disgrace -- the defending champions failed to score a
single goal -- Zidane prepared to hang up his boots, and made the decision public after the Euro 2004 venture proved a disaster too.
But he was not destined to fade away. He was destined to go out in a flash of the old temper after a flash of the old brilliance.
A voice, he said, told him to return to the football field. A voice he heard at 3 am one night.
Maybe the voice should have told him to watch his head, as well.
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But what football fans will remember is Zidane, the three time World Footballer of the Year. And they will remember the supreme skill of a man who always seemed to have a second more to analyse the situation and deliver the most piercing passes, the most beautiful crosses, the best placed headers.
What they will remember is a man whose grace prompted a director to shoot a full-length feature film just with 19 cameras following him in a football match.
And they will remember a man who is humility personified. A national hero who is devoted to his extended family and who remains a fiercely private, shy person despite being a global star.
The Materazzi madness, one hopes, will be just a footnote.
Photograph: Fernando Alvarado/AFP/Getty Images
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