I know an Englishmen that is totally obessed with everything France and most of all Zidane. I was just curious to see if you think Zidane was better than Platini or not? Where would you rank Zidane all-time amongst every player that has played the game?
That's tough. I mean Zidane single-handedly won the WC final for France and is a midfield genius. But Platini, he had so many qualities...goal scorer, amazing ball handling, super-human free kicks. I wouldn't be able to pick one over the other. We'll see after the next WC.
ARE YOU KDDING ME OR YOU JUST BEING IGNORANT ON PURPOSE. HOW DID ZIDANE SINGLEHANDEDLY WON THE WORLD CUP FOR FRANCE WHEN HE MISSED MOST OF THE TOURNAMENT DUE TO SUSPENSION OR INJURY. HE SCORE ONLY 2 GOALS IN THE TOURNAMENT. IT WAS THE DEFFENCE THAT WON IT FOR FRANCE AND DEFFENCE [THURAM]SCORED BOTH GOALS TO TAKE FRANCE FROM SEMI-FINALS TO FINALS. PLEASE DONT TRY TO CHANGE FACTS JUST TO SUIT UR BIASES BECAUSE PEOPLE MIGHT START BELIEVING YOU! HENRY'S 4 GOALS WAS MORE IMPORTANT IF YOU ASK ME!
Hey, no need to yell and insult fellow BS members. Take a deep breath and chill, my man... That being said, IMO, the Platini vs. Zidane comparison still favors Platini. If you're talking skills and vision of the game, that's a wash (same thing for defense: neither of them is/was very much inclined to go back in support of the defensive midfielders or the defenders when the other team has/had the ball--but then again that's not what is/was asked of them...). I see two major factors that tip the scale towards Platini: (1) He was a better goal scorer than Zidane. He could play center forward (and did on a couple of occasions; see French Cup final against Nice in 1978), and would have had a pretty good career at that position had he not been an out-of-this-world number 10. (2) He singlehandedly won a major tournament for France, which Zidane never did (agree with Elado here). Platini dominated Euro 1984 like no other player ever dominated a world-class tournament (yes, not even Pele in 1970 or Maradona in 1986). He was simply in a class of his own--and not just because he scored 9 goals (in just 5 games), but because he directed every single offensive phase for France. To this day, Euro 1984 remains one of my best soccer memories--a true soccer genius at work...
IMHO Zidane eclipsed Platini years ago, and look at the team that I support! Zidane is now in the Maradona and Pele conversation as 1 of the best 3 ever. Platini was no chopped liver either. Comparing goal scoring prowess is unfair, because they both play the game differently.
tehe brazilians have it in for Zizou. most of them i have come across anyway. i suppose they have a case though, they were favs for the WC98, got to the final and ; bang, zizou 1-0 bang zizou 2-0 shame
Hey, this is all a matter of personal opinion, so it would be very presomptuous on my part to say you are wrong... And I would definitely agree that Zidane is one of the most talented players of his generation. The problem is Zidane is playing in an era of overexposure for soccer--an era when highlights have become the daily dose of all fans. The Platini years were a lot different. If you were in France in those years, you caught him on TV when he played for the French national team and then European Cup matches with Saint-Etienne, but that was it... Outside of France, forget it... There was no way people in Brasil, England or Germany could have any idea of Platini's greatness (it did change a little when he moved from Saint-Etienne to Juventus though...) I'm convinced though that any neutral observer who has lived through both the Platini years and the Zidane years (like I have) and was doing their best to catch any Platini game/highlight you could catch on French TV in the late 70s/early to mid-80s (like I was) would give the edge to Platini. Between 1981 and 1986 Platini was the best player there was in the world by far, even though the world was in no position to recognize this because of a lack of exposure of his club games and his national team games--despite the great 1982-1986 run (two semis of the World Cup and one European championship), France was still a soccer underdog back then and didn't get the international recognition Brasil, Argentina, Holland, Germany or Italy were getting at the time. Platini's performance at Euro 1984 was simply mind blowing--unfortunately the world wasn't watching... If any player these days dominated a tournament like Platini dominated Euro 1984, they'd get the "best player that ever lived" label in a split second (yes, over Pele and Maradona)... Zidane hasn't done half of what Platini did back then, but what he has done, he has done in an era of overexposure for soccer, which explains why so many people see him as the better player... Personally, I remained convinced that alongside Pele and Maradona, Platini is in the top 3 for best soccer player of all times.
i understand your aguement, although dont necessarily belive it, but it does come down to personal opinion. one thing though, platini played in the era where it was not 'overexposed' as you call it, and you say thats why he isnt appreciated enough. but dont pele and maradona also come from an era before it was over exposed, and theyare still thought of higher than zizou
As an American, my opportunities to see the great players live at a stadium is limited. But having seen RM, AC Milan, Chelsea, Eng Nat team, Chivas, Bayern Munchen, ManU, Barca , Zidane seemed to be from a different planet. His football IQ, ball control, vision, command of the field was beyond what I thought was possible. I went to see Becks, Ronaldo, Figo,Owen, etc... But was truly astonsished by Z. I am eagerly looking forward to the Barca US tour to make a Ronaldinho comparison.
zizou in his peak shits on ronaldinho. im not sure when you saw zidane, but in his peak he was the dogs bollocks
you think zidane was that better than ronaldhino... not so sure about that personally... i recommend watching the link below, my cousin sent it to me... compares zidane and ronaldhino, i think you'll all really like it... give it a min 2 upload and enjoy http://www.koreus.com/files/200411/ronaldinho-vs-zidane.html
The Zidane vs. Platini discussion has always interested me, and frankly I can't decide which player was better, largely because it's been so long since I watched Platini play... I do think that the "overexposure" concept has a lot of substance. It's true that in today's soccer a great player can't even blow his nose without footage of it being aired in 182 countries. In the 80's, televised games were few and far in between. In a way it still shocks me how much recognition Maradona gets, considering that the vast majority of his "genius" was expressed in a Napoli shirt, at a time when there was practically no such thing as televised Serie A and Napoli wasn't Real Madrid or Bayern Munich (sure, people know him from his time with Argentina, but then again, he wasn't much of a factor in '82, rocked the world in '86, and started tarnishing his image in '90, giving him all of one good WC for his career). The stuff Maradona did in an average Serie A match vs. Ascoli or Sampdoria was sickening enough, but virtually no one ever saw most of it. I do tend to have a bias against today's players, largely because of the overexposure they get vs. how little substance they sometimes have (not referring to Zizou here...he had more than enough substance to throw around). So yeah, I would love to be able to sit down and carefully analyze footage, trends, tactics etc. to figure out which one of the two is the greatest French player of all time. Zidane also benefits from actually having brought a WC trophy home, but then you could argue that the WC had "better" teams in it in the '80's, so Platini shouldn't be criticized for not winning the trophy as the competition was presumibly better (as some might be inclined to say). Anyway, just rambling out loud here...