The great Zinedine Zidane, this great striker of the French generation was a spectacle to watch in his day after playing for the biggest clubs in Europe.
Zizou started his professional career with French side Cannes for 4 years making 61 appearances and scoring 6 goals. He later then moved to Bordeaux and also made a great impression on the club as he bagged 28 goals and 139 appearances, the next change would change his football life forever when Juventus snatched him form Bordeaux in which he spent majority of his career at Turin, enjoying the company of Alessandro Del Piero, Antonio Conte, Edgar Davids, Gianluigi Buffon and Pavel Nedved.
Juventus would be unstoppable winning 2 scudetti and an Intercontinental Cup and the great Frenchman would bag 24 goals in 151 appearances, he would also leave a mark on his national side as one of the greatest footballers ever to put a French jersey on.
Later in Spain, the Galacticos would be forming and targeting Zidane, Juventus were very hasty to let the Frenchman go but in the end the Spanish side got their man in the end, forming a strong Galacticos midfield along-side some of the greats of the game including David Beckham, Luis Figo and Ronaldo.
In 2006 France and Italy would make it to the Finals to battle it out for the holy grail, the World Cup trophy. Even though Zidane scored a splendid goal beating Gianluigi Buffon, the Italians held on to defeat France on penalties. Zizou would make a dramatic end to his football career by bowing out to Marco Materazzi, in which the Italian had said something to trigger Zidane to retaliate and get a red card for head-butting the Italian defender.
As he walked off the field he quickly glanced at the trophy and wondered what could of been. In my opinion he was a very talented and gifted footballer that gave his all to football and one day would like to see him manage the French national side.
Follow Peter Crepaz on twitter: @Crepaz10