Real Madrid icon Zinedine Zidane has revealed the two toughest opponents he encountered during his remarkable career.
At 52, Zidane is widely regarded as one of the best footballers to ever play the game, having won nearly every major trophy at both the club and international level. He was a key figure in several legendary teams throughout his playing years.
Zidane’s career saw him play for clubs like Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus, and Real Madrid, where he collected league titles in Italy and Spain, as well as a Champions League trophy with the Spanish giants.
On the international stage, Zidane also achieved significant success, winning the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship with France. However, his playing days ended controversially with a red card in the 2006 World Cup final after his infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi.
Following his retirement, the 1998 Ballon d’Or winner transitioned into coaching, first managing Real Madrid’s reserve team for 18 months before taking charge of the first team in early 2016.
During his two stints as Real Madrid’s manager, Zidane claimed two La Liga titles and three Champions League trophies.
Though he’s been linked with a return to management at clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester United, he has yet to step back into the dugout at a top European club.
During Zidane’s era, football was filled with some of the best defensive talents, and it comes as little surprise that the two players he named as his toughest opponents were elite central defenders from the 1990s and 2000s.
One of them was his former French teammate Lilian Thuram, with whom Zidane won both the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.
The other was Italy and AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini, who spent his entire 25-year playing career at AC Milan and is considered one of the greatest defenders of all time.
Speaking last year with Lionel Messi in a video which went viral, via Give Me Sport, Zidane said: “The toughest player Well, not the toughest player, but the hardest one in the sense that he was very good.
“Not hard in the sense that he wanted to hit you, you know? But the hardest one was Paolo Maldini because he was very smart and intelligent on the field. Sometimes I was in front of him and well…
“And Thuram. He was tough. When he is on your team, you are happy. But if he is playing against you, you are not.”
