France’ s manager, Aimé Jacquet, noting that the Brazilians did not mark tightly on corners, advised him to“ take a stroll towards the front post.” Zidane headed home two corners, and France won 3-0. Afterward his face was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe, above the words,“ Merci Zizou.” Inevitably he won the 1998 Ballon d’ Or for European Footballer of the Year. When he then led France to victory at Euro 2000, he secured his spot as French national icon of his era. He regularly topped the newspaper Journal du Dimanche’ s periodic vote for most popular Frenchman.
In 2001 Real Madrid paid Juventus a then world-record transfer fee of $ 90 million for him. A year later he finally won the Champions League, sealing victory over Bayer Leverkusen with a legendary volleyed goal. But it was his last game that lives in memory. Zidane almost inspired a flawed French team to a second World Cup, but late in the final, after Marco Materazzi allegedly questioned the virtue of his female relatives, Zidane headbutted the Italian and was sent off.
He ended his career with 31 goals in 108 internationals, but statistics cannot begin to