Журнал Andy Warhol's Interview Россия Interview № 6 | Page 192

When you say “basketball,” you think of Michael
Jordan. When you say “golf,” the name Tiger Woods
comes to mind. Zidane is definitely a name of that
caliber—a household name in his sport. World and
European champion, winner of the Champions
League trophy, former captain of the French Na-
tional Football Team and leader of Real Madrid,
the great Zizou turns 40 this year, splitting most of
his time between his position as Director of Football
for Madrid Royal Football Club and making ar-
rangements for the opening of youth football club
Z5 in his native Marseilles. Jumping at Interview’s
invitation, Andrey Dellos met his idol and favorite
footballer.
DELLOS: Imagine the world without the sport
called football. What would you have done with
your life?
ZIDANE: I always wanted to be footballer...
ever since I was a little child. When you’re kicking
a football in the street with your friends all day
every day, you don’t want to think about anything
else—you’re just a happy child. But I did have
a backup dream of becoming a delivery van driver.
Trucks were always parked outside our building.
Now and then, I helped carry crates for a man who
delivered merchandise to a corner store. So the
world could have had Zidane the truck driver in-
stead of Zidane the footballer.
DELLOS: Well, you made the right choice!
ZIDANE: True enough. (He laughs.)
DELLOS: You grew up in a poor, trouble-ridden
part of Marseilles. Would it be fair to say that foot-
ball saved you from a life of drugs, crime, and other
unsavory things?
ZIDANE: No. I lived in a volatile neighborhood,
yes, but what matters is not where you live but who
you run around with. I grew up in a good crowd.
Out of all my 20 friends, not a single one was
a drinker or a smoker. The values your family and
friends share certainly define whether or not you’re
going to do foolish things in your life.
DELLOS: Your Algerian father used to say that
an immigrant has to work twice as hard as the lo-
cals. Did this advice help you in your life?
ZIDANE: More than you can imagine. It’s abso-
lutely true. These days I’m a one-man brand named
Zin é dine Zidane, but who was I back then? Just
a young boy from the neighborhood. Another name-
less kid in football shorts. I really did have to work
twice as hard as the others, I had to be twice as
earnest and determined. Earnestness, hard work
and respect are the three essential things that my
father taught me. My Dad didn’t even go to school,
but he had his own values, and his values are what
he left me.
DELLOS: Do your kids realize that they are the
children of Zidane? What do you do to help them to
not feel this 24 hours a day?
ZIDANE: For them I’m not Zin é dine Zidane,
I’m just Dad. I try to explain to them that they
should look for their own way in life, that sooner or
later they will have to earn their living themselves,
that I won’t always be there for them, and that they
should realize their potential on their own.
DELLOS: I have the same problem. I was on
a TV show recently where affluent people expressed
opposing points of view. Some of them said that the
ANTON
YELCHIN
AND
On the eve of Euro 2012, restaurateur Andrey
Dellos talks with the man who personifies the
mind, the honor, and conscience of modern as-
sociation football.
p. 114
by WILLEM DAFOE
That boy is someone we proudly call “Our kid in
Hollywood.” The 23-year old St. Petersburg na-
tive talks to us about his Russian past and acting
future.
The son of professional figure skaters emmigrat-
ed to the States in the middle of Perestroika and
was soon thrown into the film industry mill. He
started with tiny parts in TV sitcoms (“E.R.” and
“Curb your Enthusiasm just to name a few”) and
now splits his time between major blockbusters and
tiny indie flicks. In the first category, he can boast
about: “Terminator: Salvation” and “Star Trek,” in
by ANDREY DELLOS
DELLOS: They often say that fans in the stadi-
um are the twelfth player. Did you ever win because
of the people in the stands?
ZIDANE: Yes, a few times. Once, we were play-
ing the Champions League quarterfinals in Madrid.
After we lost the away game, we came back with
a 2:0 win at home. And I had a strong feeling that it
was our supporters who won that game.
DELLOS: When you exchange jerseys with
a “bitter opponent” after a game, how do you make
yourself do it?
ZIDANE: On the contrary! It is really amazing
that you can swap jerseys with a player against
whom you’ve been battling to the death for an hour
and a half. I had a rule that the first one to ask me
for my jersey would get it. Sometimes, one of the
opposing players would agree with you on a jersey
swap before the match, and then someone else
would come up to you, and you would say that you
promised someone else. You always have to keep
your word.
DELLOS: I remember when people would
watch your games, they would shout out: “Zin é dine,
watch out, don’t do anything stupid, don’t let them
send you off the pitch!” People could expect a goal
or a red card from you with roughly equal probabi-
lity. You kept spectators in suspense, all the time,
every time.
ZIDANE: It’s funny, because in my life off the
pitch, I am very composed and calm, but I hate it
when someone restrains me on the pitch. I defend
what is my own. I admit that sometimes my re-
sponse can be too harsh.
DELLOS: Do you think modern football has be-
come a bit more gentle?
ZIDANE: Definitely not more gentle. It has be-
come more technically refined, more physical, if you
will. And this, incidentally, is a big problem, be-
cause football is a creative art, and you have to de-
rive pleasure from it. These days, all of this is a bit
lost, clubs more often recruit players with a great
physique, rather than those who can control the ball
well. I want to see more playing of the game! First
of all, you have to see if a guy can play football.
While you can work on your physical performance,
talent comes from above. Either you have the ability
or you don’t.
DELLOS: Do you have no regrets?
ZIDANE: No, absolutely none! Even if I know
I did something wrong, that’s still part of my life.
DELLOS: Marco Materazzi wrote a book “What
I really said to Zidane.” Do you want to publish your
retort? I think he’s made good money out of it.
ZIDANE: Apparently so. But this is the last
thing on my mind. It wasn’t easy for me to get over
what happened that day. But the story is over for
me. I did what I did.
p. 66
child will come into the inheritance anyway and will
have to manage it, and so must develop a feel for
money and how to handle it pretty much from the
cradle. But children, for example, travel in economy
class. So this is still an open question for me.
ZIDANE: I am with you on this one, but I don’t
think it’s right when parents travel business class,
and the kids are in economy. The whole family
should travel together. If you have your convictions,
stay true to them, no matter how much money you
make. Don’t forget who you were before.
DELLOS: A football team for you—is it primar-
ily a military unit or a family?
ZIDANE: The latter, strange as it may sound.
You know, I admire individual competitive sports,
but they are not my thing at all. I have a physical
need to get together with other people, to experi-
ence emotions with them. Sharing with others is the
really important thing.
DELLOS: Sharing is the key word, I got it. I’ve
always wanted to ask: when a football player gets
transferred between clubs, he has to move to a new
city and change the whole routine he’s become used
to. Is all of this something you like?
ZIDANE: Yes, I love it!
DELLOS: However, as I recall, the transfer to
Real was not easy for you.
ZIDANE: It’s just that for the first several
months I had a persistent feeling that they had over-
paid for me. As a result, all the media were writing
and talking about me, and this attention I was get-
ting was quite tremendous. All I wanted was to play
football. All this unnecessary tinsel gets to you, even
when you’re on the pitch. However, I knew what
I was in for. (Smiles.)
DELLOS: Contemporary athletes are becoming
more and more like rock stars. A busy and public
social life, luxury homes and cars, crazy adventures
and all of that. What do you think of it all?
ZIDANE: I don’t know, I’ve always been a pret-
ty modest, reserved kind of guy, who would just do
his job and do it well. I believe they value me for
this, among other things. It’s important to under-
stand that you have to hold on to the luck that comes
your way. You have to use your chance, reaching
ever greater heights, without wasting yourself on
non-essential things.
DELLOS: And yet, have you ever, even once,
done something absolutely crazy? Like splurge on
something ridiculously expensive?
ZIDANE: Certainly. In fact, I have done many
crazy things in my day—I am happy that I have. But
I don’t need to parade this fact, this happiness is
already with me.
DELLOS: Is it true that you only drank alcohol
once in your life?
ZIDANE: Certainly not. I went drinking once
when I was really young. But later...
DELLOS: Tell me about it!
ZIDANE: I was around 14 or 15. I had just
signed my first contract ever with AS Cannes, and
my buddies and I went to celebrate my departure.
We got really soused then. And—yes, I stayed off the
booze for a long time after that.
DELLOS: You said once that playing your first
professional football match was the happiest mo-
ment of your life. Is that still the case?
ZIDANE: Yes, it’s true. For me, a green kid
coming on to the same pitch with the likes of Rudi
Krol and Zlatko Vujovi ć was an incredible thing, be-
yond my wildest dreams.
DELLOS: You also made 5000 French francs in
15 minutes then. Which was more important?
ZIDANE: In fact, I played 90 minutes, but that’s
beside the point. The thing is, I had been making
a tenth of that before, and now I suddenly got that
kind of mad money! The hole fortune! It affected
my entire life.
ZIN DINE
ZINÉDINE
ZIDANE
190/ ENGLISH SUMMARY