Praise for Lamine Yamal continues to pour in from the world of football. Even from the top echelons of Real Madrid, admiration for FC Barcelona's '10' is eloquent. The latest 'Blanco' idol to surrender to the Mataró native was none other than Zinedine Zidane, who has remained away from the benches since the end of his second spell with the 'merengues' in 2021.
A star guest at the latest 'Festival Dello Sport', organized by the newspaper 'La Gazzetta Dello Sport', 'Zizou' was asked which current footballer he admires the most. Without hesitation, the French football legend surrendered to the talent of the Barça youth player, who at 18 years old is already, by far, the best player on the planet.
"Regardless of the position, a player who excites me when he touches the ball is Lamine Yamal. It's enough to see someone who dominates their craft so much on the field. It's fabulous to see him like that," said the Marseille native.
Zidane Still Can't Believe the Display Against Inter in the Champions League
To justify his praise for the player from Rocafonda, Zidane cited as an example Yamal's performance against Inter, in the 'semis' of the 24/25 Champions League. The then Barça youth player scored a great goal in the first leg and was unstoppable for the 'nerazzurri' defense both in Montjuïc and in Milan. Only Yann Sommer's saves managed to stop him.
"When you see him play, for example, I don't know, to give an example, the semi-final against Inter Milan. In the second half... I had never seen anything like that in my life," commented 'Zizou', who also assured that, for all the young players of the moment, Lamine is the role model to follow.
In addition to Barça's '10', Zidane also praised the talent of Vitinha and Joao Neves, who he believes "almost never loses the ball". Furthermore, he made it clear that, in his career, the greatest talent he saw was that of Ronaldo Nazario. "What he did on the field was incredible. He would say: 'I'm going to nutmeg you', and he would do it".
"Against Inter, last year in the Champions League, in San Siro, he did it all alone... It moves me to see Lamine"
The Surprising Reason Why Zidane Retired From Football at 34
Furthermore, the former '10' of the French national team, world champion in 1998 and runner-up in 2006, revealed the reason why he decided to retire at just 34 years old. Zinedine completed a fantastic World Cup in Germany, beyond his unfortunate incident with Materazzi in the final, but he fulfilled his promise to hang up his boots that year.
"I no longer liked traveling or hotels. You ended up staying in hotels even when playing at home. I stopped playing at 34 just because of that," 'Zizou' pointed out, who hopes to return to coaching in 2026, once Didier Deschamps' cycle with the French national team concludes.
"I could have played for another two or three years, but always being in training camp was very hard for me."