Allez Zizou!

“He smiles like St Teresa and grimaces like a serial killer.”

So said rock singer Jean-Louis Murat about the greatest conductor of football in the world, Zinedine Zidane.

Everything that has been said about the maestro is true.

If they say he’s the greatest footballer of his generation, they aren’t wrong. If they say he is in the same class as Pele and Diego Maradona, they are right. Yes, he has the grace of a dancer and the agility of a panther. For me, Zidane is a bald poet. Born with a sublime touch, he can do anything with the footy- tease, cajole, dominate and mock! He is football’s Pied Piper.

The world’s most complete footballer of the past 20 years, Zidane is an attack-minded midfielder like David Beckham, but unlike Beckham he can thread the ball through the middle of the field and his goal-scoring record is higher. He mesmerizes defenders with a repertoire of skills that range from drag-backs and flicks to cheeky little passes.

He is a wizard. And like all genius, Zizou has a temper too.

Yeah so he head butted Italian defender Materazzi. And yeah, maybe this cost Les Bleus the cup. If reports are to be believed then the unrefined Azzuri had it coming. Apparently, he taunted Zizou by calling him a “terrorist.” That’s a clear-cut racial slur against Zidane’s Algerian aka Muslim origins.

Nah, I’m not condoning Zizou’s outrageous act. It would have been best if he had ignored the idiot Italian and shown him the finger by lifting the cup. That would have been the best reply not just to Materazzi but also to everyone who approves of sledging.

But then Zizou too is human. He reacted on the spur of the moment. While the rest of the world will forget the incident soon enough, Zizou will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

Clanking with every honour the game has to bestow, Zidane is also burdened with the almost insupportable weight of France’s expectations. Go back to the era of 1998 when graffiti and rap songs declared “Zizou President” and the Algerian flag flew beside the French tricolour in the Champs Elysées. Just last year, he topped a newspaper poll as “the most popular Frenchman of all time”.

“I am not Zorro,” he insisted time and again. But for the French he will always remain a latter-day Joan of Arc. Why blame them? We all expect too much from our heroes. Maybe its because there are such few contenders of that tag.

Bet it must be hard being Zizou right now. God knows whether he’s an angel or a demon but he’s damn good on the field. Somehow if Zizou is on the field, you know he will do everything to win it. And for a soccer fan that’s what matters.

It’s ok Zizou. I know that sometimes, somethings can’t be explained even when understood.