Читать книгу Geoff Hurst, the Hand of God and the Biggest Rows in World Football - Graham Poll - Страница 32

AFTER his sending off, but before the end of extra-time and before the penalties were taken, there was an announcement over the public address system at the stadium which summed up the paradoxical Zinedine Zidane. It was announced that he had won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup's best player. The award was determined by a vote of journalists at the Final. The votes were collected at half-time, and by the time the count had been conducted, Zidane was back in the dressing room in disgrace and those same journalists were compiling reports which condemned him for resorting to violence. That conflict, between celebrating Zidane's skills and castigating him for savagery, was a constant throughout his career.

If we start to play the role of amateur psychologists, there is a danger we will make assumptions that are not accurate. But it must be right that Zidane's childhood helped shape the man he became, so we have to record that he was the youngest of five children born to immigrant parents in a housing project in a rough part of Marseille. Football, played beautifully, was his escape route from that tough start, but did he take some of the instincts of a street fighter with him?

Vinnie Jones, now known for acting as a ‘baddie’ in films, really was a baddie when I was refereeing. He probably had the reputation as the hardest player of my era and was sent off 13 times. Zidane was sent off a total of 14 times.

The Scottish referee Stuart Dougal set some kind of record by sending off both Zidane and the Dutchman Edgar Davids in the same Juventus Champions League match in 2000. It is not every ref who red cards two of the best players of the world in the same evening. Zidane's sending off was for a retaliatory head-butt. At least two of the French-man's other dismissals were also for head-butts. One was for stamping on an opponent. So perhaps we should not have been so shocked that he erupted with fury in the World Cup Final. In some ways, it was an entirely appropriate way for his career to end because it was in keeping with what had gone before.

But this complicated man, who could be so violent towards opponents, could bring a football under control with the deftest, gentle touch and was capable of great artistry on the football pitch. Bixente Lizarazu, who played with him for Bordeaux and France, said, ‘When we didn't know what to do, we just gave the ball to Zizou and he worked something out.’

From the back streets of Marseille came the most expensive player in the world. He won league titles in Italy and Spain. He won the World Cup and the European Championship. He was FIFA's world player of the year three times. His two goals as France won in 1998, together with his penalty in 2006, mean that he scored in two World Cup Finals. Yet his last act as a pro was to head-butt an opponent.