Zinédine Zidane interview by François Verdenet stretched to six hours | OneFootball

A planned two-hour sit-down with Zinédine Zidane in Madrid on Sunday one May 2022 became almost six, then grew into a second meeting and further follow-ups to mark his 50th. He arrived exactly on time, near incognito in a tracksuit.

As reported by L'Équipe, a withheld-number call even left a rib of beef burnt on a Franche-Comté barbecue. Zidane would ring to add a forgotten detail, including a nugget from 2006.

He recalled his first car, a used red Clio, given by Alain Pedretti, his Cannes president, for his first Division one goal. He spoke about the Coupe de La Vache qui rit from the early 1980s. Both interviewer and subject were born in 1972, and nostalgia flowed.

Another call brought a memory from six February 1991 in Cannes, when he lost a prized watch in the snow and met Véronique, who helped him find it. He pictured his mother’s cupboard in La Castellane where his polished Copa Mundial boots were kept. He remembered sleeping with Enzo Francescoli’s shirt at 24 after returning from an Intercontinental Cup final in Tokyo with Juventus.

Saturday nights meant Téléfoot with his father, the theme tune sparking jumps on the seat. Further private calls followed with promised vignettes, from the story behind his first name to its journey from Zinédine to Yazid, Yaz’, Ziz’, then Zizou. The transcript reached 138,567 characters, condensed into 18 pages published on 23 June 2022.

The final call covered favourite matches shared with Enzo, Luca, Théo and Elyaz, which sometimes finished in the attic.

Source: L'Équipe