When Zinedine Zidane schooled Brazil at the 2006 World Cup

GiveMeSport

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By Rob Swan

Published Apr 7, 2017

Nobody has made football look as beautiful as Zizou…

Back in April 2006, Zinedine Zidane made the surprise announcement that he would retire after that summer’s World Cup finals in Germany.

Only 33 at the time, Zidane was still considered a key player for both Real Madrid and France. But his mind was made up and there was no going back.

"I have to listen to my body and I cannot carry on for another year,” Zidane was quoted as saying by BBC Sport at the time. "I think it is better to clarify the situation now. I have been thinking about it for a long time.

"It's been three years since we (Madrid) won anything, and in two of those, I've not played as I've wanted.

"I am not going to play any better than I have done in the past. I don't want to just play for Real Madrid for the sake of it."

Zidane was magnificent at the 2006 World Cup

His decision to retire, however, seemed increasingly premature as the World Cup progressed.

After Les Bleus qualified for the knockout rounds, Zidane was the mastermind behind France’s 3-1 victory over Spain in the Round of 16.

He then found himself up against Brazil in the quarter-finals in a match many predicted would be the last of his career.

Zizou, however, had other ideas. He was exceptionally good in that quarter-final in Frankfurt and provided the assist from which Thierry Henry scored the only goal of the game.

Incidentally, that was Zidane’s one and only assist for a Henry goal.

He then scored the winning goal in the semi-finals against Portugal before that now infamous World Cup final against Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

It’s easy to forget that in the seventh minute of that final, Zidane scored one of the greatest penalties of all time.

With the eyes of the world on him, and up against arguably the planet’s best goalkeeper in the form of Gianluigi Buffon, Zizou chipped the ball back off the underside of the crossbar and behind the line.

The audacity is still remarkable to this day.

We all know how the story ended - and Zidane’s loyal fans will never forgive the way Marco Materazzi antagonised the Frenchman with his comments - but that quarter-final performance against Brazil should never be forgotten.