World Cup Legends: The genius who became a final hero, then a villain 🇫🇷 | OneFootball

As the 2022 World Cup approaches, we are running through 10 of the biggest legends in World Cup history and how exactly they wrote their names into the history books.

Click here to read about all the legends we have singled out so far.

Zinedine Zidane (France)

Not many names are associated with a World Cup final as strongly, or theatrically, as Zinedine Zidane’s.

A journey which saw the Frenchman unearthed as a hero in 1998 and concluded with a career that ended in scandal in 2006.

Skill, panache and art, mixed with a dash of red mist and recklessness. Zizou’s legacy is stamped all over the greatest football tournament of all.

There was an insurmountable amount of pressure on Aimé Jacquet’s side as France played host to the World Cup in 1998.

A home nation dripping with expectation over a squad which consisted of Lilian Thuram, Patrick Vieira, Christophe Dugarry and Didier Deschamps.

And there was also the small factor of the number 10 in the squad, a 6’1 attacking midfielder who had shone in Italy that season as Juventus lifted the Serie A title and reached a second consecutive Champions League final.

France sailed through to the knockout rounds winning their first three games against South Africa, Denmark and Saudi Arabia.

But even a tournament which went on to become one of Zidane’s most successful chapters did not fly by without incident as he was sent off against the Saudis for stamping on an opponent, becoming the first French player ever to receive a red card at a World Cup finals.

He arrived back in time to score a penalty in the shootout win over Italy in the quarter-finals before a win over Croatia in the semi-finals set up the final showdown against Brazil. And against Ronaldo.

The Brazilian striker was another star lighting up Italy that season as the main man for Inter but a seizure struck on the day of the final. Ronaldo still played but he was not himself and Brazil were rocked. All that allowed Zidane to nip in and steal the show.

Two powerful headers from corners set the French on their way to their first World Cup title with a 3-0 win over Brazil.

Zidane had written his name in folklore and it was quite literally up in lights on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

His 1998 team-mate Marcel Desailly had the highest of praise for him:

“A true artist. What he could do with the ball was incredible.

“Only Maradona could do the same.”

But then came 2006 in Germany.

There was a cruel irony to the way a 34-year-old Zidane’s tournament played out in the complete opposite parallel to what happened eight years earlier.

In 1998 his group stage was marred by a red card before coming through to pull off one of the greatest individual performances to win the World Cup.

In Germany, with Zidane having already announced he would retire at the end of the tournament, he surprised the world by shining as the best player at the competition before his final act on a football pitch saw him shown a red card for headbutting Marco Materazzi.

It is perhaps the most shocking moment in World Cup final history. It is undoubtedly one of the most iconic images in the tournament’s history.

Zidane was unplayable, going on to win the Golden Ball award given to the best player and he wasn’t even meant to be there.

France coach Raymond Domenech had to convince Zizou to give him one last try on the international stage after he had announced his retirement after Euro 2004.

The Galáctico got the band back together for one last tour, except he was a frontman playing the bass, keyboard and drums.

His display in the quarter-final win over Brazil was astonishing.

It appeared as if this player, who had already wrote himself into World Cup history, was going to lead his country to another trophy in his final act – a script that any Hollywood writer would be proud of.

July 9 2006, the World Cup final between Italy and France at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The curtain finally coming down on one of the greatest showman the sport has ever seen.

And it all started so perfect with the 1998 winners taking the lead after just seven minutes through Zidane’s perfectly-struck panenka penalty which fooled Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced over the line.

In scoring he became only the fourth player to ever score in two different finals – after Paul Breitner, Vavá and Pele.

Marco Materazzi equalised just before the 20-minute mark with the game remaining level until the dying minutes of extra time and on to a penalty shootout.

The two goalscorers were then to play their part in the game’s next moment of incident with Zidane seeing red in the 110th for head-butting Materazzi in the chest.

Replays appeared to show that Italian defender provoked Zidane in some way but that was that, the Frenchman’s final act was to walk past a trophy he had single-handedly won before knowing that he had contributed to blowing his country’s chances of victory that night.

France were not far away from winning two World Cups where Zidane had been the hero in both finals.

But instead the second act will always be remembered for an act of rage.

Either way, Zizou will always be front and centre in the history of the tournament.