Since the end of May 2021, this man has been unemployed. But it is probably the least unemployed jobless to be pitied on the planet. Zinedine Zidane, who turns 50 on Thursday June 23, resigned from his enviable position as Real Madrid coach just over a year ago and has been enjoying life and those close to him ever since.
Meanwhile, hardly a day goes by that Zidane is not rumored to be in charge of a prestigious club or in charge of the national team. Even President Macron, yet a claimed supporter of OM, gives his opinion on the issue and would see “Zizou” at the head of PSG…
In the meantime, this documentary has the merit of painting a more intimate portrait. Thanks to the testimonies of those who knew him as a child, teenager and young adult, his relatives as well as his first coaches (including Alain Lepeu) or teammates, we discover the complex personality of this kid of Algerian origin brought up in La Castellane, city of north of Marseille, which has become a planetary star.
Rich in numerous joyful and rarely seen film archives, it is the story of Zidane before the trophies, of the invasive communication and the millions won. A story that, from the paternal village of Aguemoune in Algeria to Bordeaux via Marseille and Cannes, tells “Yazid” – his real nickname before the affectionate “Zizou”, who was first employed by Rolland Courbis, his trainer in Bordeaux in the early 1990s and which has since entered into semantic habits to designate the icon.
“A Dark Side”
Shy but capable of bloodshed, not very talkative but managing to gain respect with a simple look, Zinédine Zidane has never been a smooth character. “There is a dark side to him, a form of anger, natural aggressiveness,” said Raymond Domenech, former coach of the Blues.
The interest of this documentary lies precisely in not leaving aside its most controversial aspects. Good son, good brother, good husband, good comrade… but be careful not to upset him. “He was raised in a tough neighborhood where he learned to defend himself,” recalls Guy Lacombe, who coached him at AS Cannes. In fact, the smiling “Zizou” will be expelled fourteen times during his professional career! A record for a player of this size.
Going back in time, one of his first educators, at the Septèmes-les-Vallons club (Bouches-du-Rhône), says: “At 11, he made goats with his little bridges, his wheels. He dribbled past everyone, took punches and gave them. He wasn’t an altar boy! »
From his host family in Pégomas, near Cannes, where he stayed for a year, to the Mimont home, near the Croisette, where young workers whose hopes for Cannes were housed, the testimonies all tell of an endearing and respectful young man.
After AS Cannes, the child of La Castellane should logically have played for OM. Bernard Tapie agreed, not Raymond Goethals, famous Belgian coach. AS Monaco on the move? Arsene Wenger does not want it.
It will therefore be Bordeaux, where he settles with Véronique, his wife, met at the Mimont home. “He was very serious, was very careful about diet,” recalls teammate Bixente Lizarazu. Said otherwise by Zidane himself: “I’ve lived too long like an old man! »