Zinedine Zidane’s journey to the top of professional football has been a long and arduous one.
The Frenchman spent the last five years of his playing career at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League and LaLiga Santander alongside greats such as Ronaldo, Raul and Luis Figo.
However, but his first steps into the game weren’t quite as glamorous.
“It was clear to me from the start,” he told OTRO. “All I wanted to do was play football. But I had difficulties at school and my parents told me off.
“I knew full well that I didn’t have an ideal attitude. Then, one day they told me: ‘we know you have something on your mind, so do what you want to do.’
“Once I had my parents’ permission, I focused on giving everything to achieve what I wanted to. On arriving at Cannes, I saw professionals training and told myself: ‘I want to do this.’
“From this moment on, I did everything I could to become the best.”
After joining Cannes at the age of 17, Zidane changed his lifestyle in order to get to the top of the game.
“I slept well, I wasn’t an idiot going around bars, I only drank water and did stretches,” he said.
“I put everything into becoming the best player possible, I had to do it at all costs. This is how I could make my parents happy, because it was my life, but I also did it to make them proud.
“To make yourself known, and then play, you had to be good, not like today. First you had to show that you were different to everyone else, because at the time there were a limited number of players – only one or two youngsters per team.
“Today it’s all changed, it goes much quicker, and as for the players, they’re no longer afraid of making mistakes.”
Source: Marca
