“I don't like people to believe that…

By Elsa Girard-Basset | Web journalist

If he only met him at Juventus (one arrived in the summer of 2001, when the other left), Lilian Thuram spent many precious years with Zinédine Zidane in the blue jersey. Known for offending certain teammates, how was “Tutu” positioned in relation to “Zizou”? This is what he explained candidly in a relatively recent interview.

A double in the semi-final for Lilian Thuram, a double in the final for Zinédine Zidane: it is an understatement to say that the two tricolors marked the 1998 World Cup with a hot iron, contributing to the historic coronation of Aimé's troops Backgammon. Crowned again at Euro 2000, then back for one last dance at the 2006 World Cup, the two legends have experienced almost everything together.

Not to spoil this parallelism, Thuram and Zidane both played in Italy in the 1990s, when Serie A had established itself as the most demanding and difficult championship in the world. In fact, the right back and the playmaker know each other perfectly well. And more than anything else, this respect endures at Thuram.

Lilian Thuram reestablishes her truth about Zinédine Zidane

In an interview with L'Équipe, the former Parma player, certainly also critical of “Zizou's” freakout against Italy in 2006, praised his quality as a player:

The strongest I've ever played with? The first time I met him, in the French team, I was 17 and a half years old. In the warm-up, he was juggling, throwing balls high in the air and juggling behind again. I had never seen anyone my age do that with a ball. Then I followed his development until the confirmed player he became in Italy.

The hero of the 1998 France-Croatia semi-final also took the opportunity to put an end to a perception that irritates him:

I didn't like people suggesting that he was just gifted and talented. Zidane was above all a very hard worker, extremely rigorous, with a lot of character.

It's true that “ZZ's” impeccable work ethic is often less talked about, with the general public preferring to focus on his talent, as if it were purely innate. The definition of quasi-divine genius, on the other hand, fits Ronaldo Nazario much better. This is, unsurprisingly, the best player Thuram claims to have faced:

Ronaldo, obviously. No matter where he touched the ball, everyone was alert, he could trigger an action that would lead to a goal. It was always very pleasant to play against him. When you like going up against great players, it becomes fun. It's time for you to reveal yourself to yourself.

If Zinédine Zidane has reached the heights of world football, it is certainly because of his natural predispositions with the ball, but also and above all through hard work, again and again. Very admiring of her ex-partner, even if he publicly blamed him for the 2006 headbutt, Lilian Thuram therefore wanted to set things straight about it. It's said!