Zizou's youth - Zinedine Zidane's rise to stardom

Overlooked by scouts, "Zizou" was a late bloomer.

It was not only Englishmen who had never met Zidane when he was a teenager who doubted his ability. Football's pantheon is full of boyhood heroes, and few of those truly great players have come to prominence as late as Zidane.

Zidane's first goal in professional football was a deft lob against Nantes, for which he was rewarded with a brand new Renault car from the club's president.

In his first season at Bordeaux, Zidane developed an almost telepathic connection with striker Christoph Dugarry - along with interception defender Vicente Lizarazu, and together they form the bedrock of the team.

Bordeaux finished fourth in Ligue 1 in 1992-93 and 1993-94. At the end of his second season, Zidane, 22, was awarded the "Best Hope" award as France's most promising young player.

Zidane's league success has also pushed for a call-up for the national team, albeit only as a substitute.

On 17 August 1994, they played a friendly against the Czech Republic in Bordeaux. When Yuri Djokaf withdrew from the team, local big boy Zinedine Zidane was called up to take his place, but only on the bench. Jacques's call-up for Zidane was not just about confidence, it was about self-indulgence.

France were two goals down when Zidane replaced Auxerre playmaker Corentin Martins in the 63rd minute. As the game drew to a close, Laurent Blanc sent a long ball to Zidane, who steered it past his marker with ease.

Then he cut through the Czech defence with ease, even contempt: a quick ride past Lubos Kubik and a quick slip between his feet to avoid Tomas Repka's tackle. Zidane's left-footed shot from 25 yards looped through Kuba and into the far corner.

It would have been a stunning goal at any stage of Zidane's career, let alone a debut for the national team, and he's not done yet. Three minutes later, the score was 2-2. In the prelude to one of the greatest nights in French football history, Zidane headed home at the near post following an opportunity from a corner.

The Lescours Park was boiling as France secured the most unlikely of draws. When the cameras cut to the coaching staff on the French bench, they captured a wonderful moment, all smiling in disbelief and realising in unison: this is our man.

Zidane needs to get Bordeaux playing at a higher level to keep up the pace of his development. In 1994-95 they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the second round by Katowice and finished seventh in Ligue 1, just short of re-entering the UEFA Cup.

An early goal is usually the key to most seemingly impossible second-leg comebacks against AC Milan in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1995-1996. Didier Tolo scored for Bordeaux 15 minutes into the game after Lizarazu's excellent pass down the left. And as the game wore on, one thing became clear: Zidane dominated it. He was transformed: those deft touches and footwork, those understated flourishes that proved who really ruled the field -- and everyone knew him better after that night.

"He can do things with his feet that some people can't even do with their hands," Thierry Henry once said of him. "It's amazing. Sometimes he plays like he's dancing."

Midway through the second half, Zidane's free-kick hit the referee's head and the ball bounced back to Dugarry, who scored. Bordeaux equalised, Milan teetering. Six minutes later, Dugarry scored one of the most famous goals in Bordeaux history: Not long after Zidane had pierced Desailly, he held the ball on the left and pushed forward to the right to take the ball deep into Milan, then tried to slip it straight into the box for Didier Tolo, but the pass was blocked, but as the ball bounced back in front of him, Zidane poked it to Dugari on the right, The latter struck the ball unmarked into the far corner of the net. Lescure Park is out of control.

Bordeaux's 3-2 win on aggregate has become legendary forever. Buoyed by the result, they eased past Slavia Prague in the semi-finals. Zidane deft set up Dugarry for the only goal of the first leg in the Czech capital.

But disaster struck in the second round. Both players were booked in the second leg at home and will miss the first leg of the final against Bayern Munich.

The ruthless Nan Dag finally broke Bordeaux: they won the first leg 2-0 in Munich. When Zidane and Dugarry returned in the second leg, Bordeaux still had hopes of repeating their miracle against Milan: Zidane had threatened Bayern's goal in the opening period, only to be hit by the loss of Lizarazu half an hour later. In the 53rd minute of the second half, Bayern went on to extend their lead when Sauer fired home after a mistake at the back - Bordeaux had no chance. Bayern won 3-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate to win the UEFA Cup.

For Bordeaux, it was a heartbreaking defeat despite having heroically clawed their way from the group stage of the Intertoto Cup to one of Europe's most important finals. Zidane was voted the French player of the year in France and was trusted by the national team at the European Championships in England that summer.

France played tepid football at Euro 1996 - Beckenbauer called their football "girly football" - and failed to find the back of the net in the semi-finals, with the Czech Republic knocking them out on penalties.

That summer, he joined European champions Juventus for 3.2 million pounds ($4 million). What followed was the decade of Zidane, in which he proved himself not just better than Sherwood, but better than every other player in the world.

As a young boy, Zidane was fascinated by Maradona's performance in the 1986 World Cup. Twenty years later, when the uproar over Zidane's red card in the final in Berlin finally subsided, it finally became clear that he was the only player since Maradona to have fully integrated his personality into the World Cup.