Zidane has Real chance to repeat his Hampden glory in Cardiff
ZINEDINE ZIDANE the manager touches down in Britain for a Champions League final this week, 15 years after he did so as a player. If it goes as well as it did in 2002, he will have no complaints.
No one who watched his spectacular winner in Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park will ever forget it. Just as no one who followed the Frenchman’s playing career ever believed he would make it as a manager.
On Saturday, Zidane has the opportunity of leading Real to their 12th European Cup success — and his second in succession as their manager — when they face his former club Juventus in Cardiff.
Cesar Sanchez, who started the game in goal for Madrid that night 15 years ago in Glasgow, said this week: ‘I never imagined he would become a manager. I remember the day of the final some of the players were very vocal.
‘Zidane was one of the quiet ones who never said that much. Now he has to do the talking.
‘There were other players in that team you always expected would go on to coach but we didn’t really see Zinedine as one of them. What he has done since then is extraordinary.’
Spanish sportspaper Marca’s match report of the game in 2002 described his goal as: ‘the ball dropping down from heaven and God getting on the end of it’.
Roberto Carlos’ pass was slightly behind the Frenchman but he left Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt with no chance.
‘His management of the group has been fantastic,’ added Sanchez of his old team-mate. ‘With the bigger clubs, that is so important.
‘There have been tactical variations that he has come up with, so he has the ability to do that, too. And don’t confuse this (relaxed) management style with being soft.’
Not every aspect of his success has been surprising. How many Real Madrid coaches can know what it’s like to be signed for a huge fee?
Zidane has handled the world’s most expensive dressing room just as a one-time £48million world-record signing should do.
But his big-money move started badly in 2001 and he was even booed by the Bernabeu fans.
Former Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque recalled: ‘We lost 1-0 to Valencia on his debut. He was very anxious. Between the kicks he received from David Albelda (Valencia’s midfield hatchet-man) and the defeat, he was very head down in the dressing room after the game.
‘He knew how much excitement his signing had generated and felt responsible.’
Del Bosque added: ‘It’s true Zidane is shy but it is an attractive shyness. You know there is a big personality behind it.’
He has shown that character in the dugout just as he showed it on the pitch in 2002. Real Madrid came into the Glasgow final having finished third in the league and suffered the ignominy of losing the Copa del Rey final 2-1 to Deportivo on the day of their centenary in their own stadium.
That made it more important than ever to come home from Hampden with their ninth European Cup.
Raul scored after nine minutes but Bayer were level three minutes later when Lucio headed in Thomas Brdaric’s free-kick.
Then came Zidane’s missile, right on the stroke of half-time.
Hampden’s 52,000 capacity had witnessed one of the competition’s greatest-ever goals.
Leverkusen recovered to mount one final push in the last 20 minutes. They were now facing a new goalkeeper. Sanchez had gone off injured on 68 minutes and Iker Casillas had been brought on.
The fans’ favourite had fallen out of favour with Del Bosque, only making the bench, but he seized his chance and kept a clean sheet.
It would be 12 years before Madrid won the décima (tenth European Cup) and by then Zidane was embarking on a coaching career that has since seen him deliver the 11th.
The 12th is now within his grasp, and back on British soil the omens are good.