During his days as a player, Lampard was seen as one of the greatest midfielders in Europe and in the Premier League. During his time with Chelsea as a player, Lampard went on to play 648 games in all competitions and scored 211 goals. During that period, he also won four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups, one Champions League and one Europa League.
By contrast, Zidane is best known for his time with Juventus, Real Madrid and France national team. On a club level collectively with the two European big sides, “Zizou” won three League titles, three domestic Cup titles, one Intercontinental Cup and one Champions League.
While Lampard and Zidane are both greats of their day, most would regard Zidane as being better. The main reason for that is because Zidane also went on to achieve great things with France. Lampard went on to play 106 matches for England and while he was important to the team, he never won a major trophy.
With France, Zidane won the 1998 World Cup and European Championship in 2000. He also starred for his country during the 2006 World Cup in Germany as they went on to reach the final where they lost on penalties to Italy. Despite his nation finishing off as runners-up during the competition, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball Award.
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However, picking Zidane as a better player than Frank Lampard based on International success will mean Cristiano Ronaldo is better than Lionel Messi because the former has achieved more than the latter for their respective countries.
Despite Zidane being ahead as far as accolades go, Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Van Persie believes that Lampard was comparable to the current Real Madrid manager as a player. The Dutchman said, as quoted by The Mirror last year: “There was something fascinating about the way Frank Lampard operated on the pitch.
“For me, the art of being a great player is seeing things early and reading situations before others do. Luka Modric is brilliant at it – but Frank was the best of all.
“I heard that some coaches observed him once for 90 minutes and it was noted that Frank’s eyes looked all around the pitch about 1,000 times. When I heard about that, I took it on board and decided to work on that aspect of my game intensively.
“Most players need time to control a ball when they receive it. Their head goes down for a second and then it comes back up again – and, in that moment, you lose two vital seconds of decision-making.
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“And when you play against world-class players, you don’t get that kind of space and time. You need to keep up the speed in the game. It is the only way you can surprise your opponents. So, during a match, I am always scanning the pitch for space, for positions, for opponents and for team-mates. The older I became, the more I did it.
“I have made assists for goals for team-mates by delivering my passes early. It is crucial to know who is where on the entire pitch. And because the situation is constantly changing, Lampard would look up a thousand times.
“It is very tiring. But if you have the picture in your head, that means you can play the fast ball. It is such an important option. Lampard used to do that – and I once saw Zinedine Zidane play the perfect match.
“In 90 minutes, I saw that he never once lost the ball. Simply because he was always aware what was happening around him.”
who do you think was better between Frank Lampard and Zinedine Zidane as a player, comment below….
