"Zidane ain't even close to Platini," Madrid fan lssie_hyoudou wrote on Reddit. "People have forgotten how frustrating Zidane actually was. Never really a consistent performer. But his highs were the highest one could achieve."
Some fans agreed with that opinion.
blackcatman: "100%. I believe people keep rating Zidane over Platini because Platini is not in the FIFA games. Platini IS the greatest French football player of all time, no debate."
cuentanueva: "They never saw Zidane. People constantly put him in like a top 5 or top 10 here and it drives me crazy. Him being massively successful with Madrid as a coach gave him some weird boost as a player that is weird to see."
Frustrating? At first sight, it sounds ridiculous when it comes to a Ballon d'Or winner with a total of 22 collective and individual trophies in his cabinet. The truth is, the debate on whether Zizou was really as good as most fans think of him, is quite a lengthy one.
Back in 2018, renowned football writer and tactical guru Michael Cox came up with a tweet saying Zidane had at best two good seasons in his career in Italy and Spain.
Most fans disagreed with that opinion saying Zidane used to boss big games. Was he consistent week in, week out though?
Juve owner Gianni Agnelli said that Zidane was 'more entertaining than effective'. Besides, when Alessandro Del Piero got injured in the 1998/99 season and Zidane became the team's focal point, Juventus finished 7th. So perhaps Bianconeri fans would agree with the inconsistency claims.
At Real Madrid, Zidane had his ups and downs: for instance, he struggled to find a perfect position and role on the pitch shortly after arrival in 2001 (his goalscoring numbers were really good at the time by the way) but so were struggling the entire team until Vicente del Bosque found a tactical solution for that matter.
What's your honest opinion on Zinedine Zidane as a player?
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