Greatest Quotes About Zinedine Zidane(A Long Thread)

Pele (2006) - he is the master. Over the past 10 years, there's been no one like him, he has been the best player in the world

Cesare Maldini - I would give up 5 players to have Zidane in my squad.

Michel Platini - Technically, I think he is the king of what's fundamental in the game – control and passing. I don't think anyone can match him when it comes to controlling or receiving the ball.

David Beckham - Zidane is the greatest of all time

Franz Beckenbauer - Zidane is one of the greatest players in history, a truly magnificent player

Former Italy manager Marcello Lippi who also coached Zidane (2006) - I think Zidane is the greatest talent we've known in football these last twenty years.

Zlatan Ibrahimović - Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the ten other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple.

Xavi in a 2010 interview - Zidane was the best player of the '90s and early 2000s.

Former England manager Kevin Keegan - You look at Zidane and think 'I've never seen a player quite like that.' What sets Zidane apart is the way he manipulates a football, buying himself space that isn't there. Add his vision and it makes him very special.

Arsene Wenger - Zidane has an exceptional coordination, an exceptional touch of the ball. Every area three yards around Zidane, you could give him the ball where you wanted. He puts it down and plays.

Marco van Basten - He played like a ‘general’ in midfield. He has technique, tricks, passing and also has an ability to score some of the best goals.

Carlo Ancelotti - Zidane, Technically was really the best.

Paul Scholes on Zidane - What a player. Very difficult to play against, someone you can’t get the ball off. You never know where he is. To have played with somebody like that would have been great. If I had to choose somebody to play with, it would be him.

Roberto Carlos - Zidane is the best player I've seen. Supporters arrived earlier at the Bernabéu just to see him warm-up.

Eden Hazard - Zidane is the best ever, he is my idol. I grew up learning from him by watching him on television and online for hours.

Juan Pablo Sorin - He played the most beautiful football. If there was a painting before Zinedine, it was embellished with his magical paintbrush.

Jamie Carragher - Zidane, the best player of the modern era. He seems to have so much time on the ball and there's so much to him-

– dribbling, creativity, passing, scoring, powerful at set-pieces.

Kevin Keegan - He leads the orchestra. But he's willing to work, and a dead-ball specialists. That makes him a pretty good player in my book.

Edgar Davids - Simply watching him train inspires me. He is one of --

-the best players in the world. He thinks in one second and does it the next. He is a special player, one who is original and exceptional. He creates space where there is none. Only the very best players can do that. No matter where he gets the ball or how it comes to him, Zidane

- can get out of trouble. His imagination and his technique are amazing.

Ronaldinho - Zidane is one of the best footballers of all time, one of my idols. He had such elegance and grace, a wonderful touch and superb vision.

Rivaldo - His elegance of movement on the pitch and his skills are uncanny.

Thierry Henry - In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team.

Former Basketball player Magic Johnson after watching Zidane play - One of the most inspiring nights of my life. Zidane is a phenomenon.

Journalist Sid Lowe - Zidane was football's answer to the Bolshoi Ballet. Zidane was elegance above all else.

Rob Smyth of The Guardian - in terms of ball retention he was probably the greatest player of all time, blessed with such grace and supernatural awareness that he could play a game of real-life Pac-Man and never be caught.

Kylian Mbappe - If you're a boy and you're French, your idol is Zidane.

Paul Pogba - Zidane was my Idol, France’s football icon, he made a real impression on us. Everyone respects and admires him, everyone wants to emulate what he did during his career.

Houssem Aouar - I think Zidane was the player who made me love football because of his way of playing and his behaviour. He is a great player and he's French. So yes it really is him. When I was a boy, like most kids, I used to pretend to be another player, It was usually Zidane.

Ryan Giggs - Zidane is one of the best players I’ve ever played against. His touch is amazing. He can do things with a ball that you’ve never seen before & he makes it all look so easy. There’s so much creativity there, but he never appears flustered in possession of the ball.

Roberto Carlos - One of the all-time greats, what Zizou could do with a football will be remembered forever. An honour to say I have played with him.

Xabi Alonso (When asked about his sporting hero) - Zinedine Zidane. What he could do with a football is a dream for most of us.

Alfredo Di Stefano - He dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot. He makes it worthwhile going to the stadium. He’s one of the best I have ever seen.

Frank Lampard - I think he’s the player that really has been my favourite for the last few years. Playing against him you realise the man is a real genius as a footballer.

Florentine Perez - Zidane’s goal in the club’s ninth Champions League win was the goal of a genius, an artist, but I still replay some of his moves in my head. He represents the elegance of a simple hero for Real Madrid.

Guardiola - I admire him a lot. He was one of my idols.

Stefan Effenberg - The best player was Zinedine Zidane – he was so hard to tackle, so clever with the ball and so fast. He was one of the best.

Kaka (2006) - He’s a truly great player. The fact that he’s retiring is a great loss for the world of football.

Marcello Lippi - The greatest player of the last 20 years? It has to be Zidane. He had everything. You never needed to tell him anything as he did it all by himself and knew what was expected.

Arsene Wenger - Once or twice in your career, you need that meeting of talent with --

--delivery. That makes, then, the recognition that yes, this guy is exceptional. That is then the marriage of art with mental strength, and Zidane delivered in ’98 in the final.

Fernando Morientes - We can see why he was number one. Not only for what he did during matches, but--

--also for what he did during training sessions. I remember seeing him in training, and I said ‘that’s just incredible.

Fernando Morientes - I played with Raul, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Roberto Carlos and many other great players, but Zinedine Zidane was absolutely wonderful. -

---Not only was he full of surprises during games but also in training. I’ve been in many sessions in which other players have had to stop and applaud him. He did things I had never seen before; there was no other player who was so technically gifted.

Ronaldo Nazario - For me, it (playing with Zidane) was an honour. Zizou is one of the greatest players I have ever trained and played with.

Marcel Desailly - there was no chance of truly finding a way of stopping him. There was no secret against Zidane.

Marcel Desailly - He had skill and technical ability that were just out of the ordinary. When it came to control, and especially leading the team, he managed to see and analyze situations quicker than anyone else on the field. Thanks to that, he made the difference.

Laurent Blanc - I don’t need to say anything about Zinedine Zidane. You have seen it all for yourself. The man is a simply brilliant player, who can do anything he wants on the pitch. He can score goals and make them. He is the one player who could play in any team.

Ruud Gullit (2007) - The best player of the last generation. He would control games, but most importantly, he always performed on the big occasions.”

Gheorghe Hagi - It is a great regret of mine that I never played alongside Zidane, but only played against him. That was hard -

-- enough: he was a leader on the pitch, and only looked happy with the ball at his feet. He had everything in his game you could admire, from his free-kicks to his clever passes to his team-mates.

Mesut Ozil - my Idol was Zinedine Zidane. He was the most perfect player. His technique, shooting and headers, his ability to read games and boss them was fantastic.

Steve McManaman - The best player of our generation in my opinion. People talk about the likes of Maradona and Pele, but they were a long time ago and I think Zidane is certainly up there with them.

Gary Lineker - ....the most elegant footballer I have ever seen

Gerard Houllier - Zidane is the leader. He brings a light to the game with his passing and his movement and his skill. And thereby, he commands it.

Paul Scholes - one of the best 2 or 3 footballers I have ever seen was Zidane. To see Zidane in action was to witness poetry in motion. The skills, the vision, the goals, he was a sublime performer. When he was at his peak, he was unquestionably the finest player on the planet.

Franco Baresi - He was as elegant as a dancer- he even used the soles of his boots efficiently. Everything was easy for him; he made such movements that if I tried to copy them I would break my legs.

End of thread! Thanks for reading and don't forget, Zidane is the greatest Midfielder of all time!