The universal admiration that the footballing world has for Zinedine Zidane is perhaps felt best at the White House - and not France - as Real Madrid fans have a special kind of love for a player who inspired so many of the club's biggest stars to join them, even to this day with the likes of Jude Bellingham, and both won three straight Champions League titles then later rescued them from disaster after a real low point in 2018/19.
Now, Zizou is getting to fulfill another life long dream of his, as the 1998 World Cup winner as a midfielder for France is getting to manage the French national team after a few consecutive tournament disappointments.
France are a juggernaut, but they slumped against Spain in both the European Championships and the 2026 World Cup, so now Zizou replaces his former teammate at Juventus and for France, Didier Deschamps, with many true France fans and all the Real Madrid fans seeing Zizou as a massive upgrade.
Zinedine Zidane is King Midas
Another one of Zinedine Zidane's former teammates, former Arsenal center midfielder Emmanuel Petit, was full of praise for Zizou and, like so many France legends, sounds beyond excited to have the three time Champions League winning manager coaching Les Bleus.
Petit said to RMC Sport, via Actu Foot, "When Zinedine Zidane enters a room, everyone falls silent even when he's not speaking. Thanks to his aura and charisma, he doesn't need to say much to get into people's heads. I imagine some are eager to play under Zizou . He's a leader of men that I'm dying to see in action. As soon as we talk about Zizou, we dip a little into the irrational. Everything he touches turns to gold. Three years at Real Madrid, three times European champion with the team... If tomorrow he's the national team coach, could he actually turn the goals of the France team into gold? I like to think so."
Real Madrid fans reading this quote from Emmanuel Petit have to feel a sense of pride for Zizou swelling up in them, and he does truly have that aura that even massive legends like Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric with careers arguably even better than his have the utmost respect for him.
Nobody would dare disrespect Zizou,and the superstars of France like Kylian Mbappe are only going to be even more effective and more clutch with such a manager in charge.
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