Zidane unconcerned with personal glory

Rejuvenated French superstar Zinedine Zidane said that he doesn’t want to be considered as a lone hero in the French team ahead of their World Cup final game against Italy that will take place on Sunday in Berlin.

كتب : Amro Hassan

السبت، 08 يوليه 2006 - 20:53
Rejuvenated French superstar Zinedine Zidane said that he doesn’t want to be considered as a lone hero in the French team ahead of their World Cup final game against Italy that will take place on Sunday in Berlin.

Zidane had quit international football following EURO 2004, but the former World and European champion came out of retirement to rediscover the form that made him the two-time World player of the year after leading underdogs France to their second World Cup final in eight years.

"People are always asking me about this World Cup being emotional because of my retirement, but there's nothing special happening around me concerning this being my last tournament," Zidane was quoted as saying by the Daily Star on Saturday.

"I don’t want to be special, I don’t want to be talked about as a separate part from the team, I'm in the group with my teammates and I'm focused on the competition."

The Real Madrid star previously announced that he'll retire from professional football after the World Cup, and despite not being at his best for the past couple of seasons with his club, the 34-year-old produced marvelous displays in the tournament.

"I've great memories of winning the World Cup in 1998, and to raise the trophy again would be very special," Zidane said.

"It'd be magnificent if we could win it, not just for the players but for all our personnel and all the people who've been behind us from the start and not those who joined us half the way through."

The French team go into the final game with a full squad, and coach Raymond Domenech is expected to name an unchanged side to the one that played five of the tournament's six games they played so far.