Zinedine Zidane fell in love with the soccer world from his career as a player. The French legend first made his mark while playing at Juventus under the guidance of coach Lippi. Then, he played for the Bianconeri since 1996 and moved to Real Madrid in 2001.
“From a former position as a player and coach, I learned a lot from both Lippi as well as Carlo Ancelotti. Lippi was the first coach to put his trust in me. He brought me here. Juventus and made me a notable player.” Zidane shared.
The last match of Zidane’s career also featured Lippi, when the French team faced the Italian team in the 2006 World Cup final in Germany. After that, the Azzurri won the championship by defeating France on a lucky penalty shootout.
In that match, Zidane was sent off in extra time for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. From this shocking incident, Zidane also announced his retirement from his football career.
The 2006 World Cup Golden Ball began his coaching career in 2014, when he was appointed head coach of the Real Madrid youth team. On January 4, 2016, Zinedine Zidane officially became the head coach of Real Madrid and helped this team win the Champions League in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Coach Zidane is likely to return to Serie A, specifically Juventus Club, as the coach to replace Max Allegri next season.
“Why not, anything can happen. I want to coach in Italy one day. I like Italy and I like the way people here love football,” Zidane shared when was asked about the opportunity to lead Juventus.
The former Real Madrid coach was an assistant to coach Ancelotti, then took on the job of official coach of Real Madrid in two different periods from January 2016 to May 2018 and again from March 2019 to June 2021.