Filippo Inzaghi believes Zinedine Zidane’s understanding of the game explains why the former France international has also enjoyed such a successful managerial career.
Inzaghi was speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, via TuttoMercatoWeb, before France’s meeting with Italy. The current Palermo coach reflected on his time alongside Zidane at Juventus and described the Frenchman as a team-mate who could read the game for those around him.
“For someone like me who did this job, he was a real godsend,” Inzaghi said.
The pair played together at Juventus from 1997 to 2001. During that period, they won the Scudetto in 1997-98 and reached the Champions League final in the same season, losing to Real Madrid.
Inzaghi moved to Milan in the summer of 2001, while Zidane left Juventus during the same transfer window to join Real Madrid in a world-record move to the Bernabeu.
Zidane later won three Champions League titles as a coach. Asked why the qualities he displayed as a player had transferred so effectively to management, Inzaghi pointed to the combination of his intelligence, character and ability to assess the flow of a match.
“If you have the footballing intelligence, the personality and the ability to understand the moments of a match…” Inzaghi said.
Zidane’s return to management brought him back into the international football spotlight this summer, while Friday’s fixture between France and Italy has added significance because it comes 20 years after the headbutt involving Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final in Berlin.
Zidane spoke about the incident again on Thursday. He said he had no regrets over what happened and that the episode provided him with additional motivation to become a coach.