Posts Tagged ‘Zinedine Zidane’

Rob Smyth recalls half a dozen belters

From Zizou’s zenith to a Krankl cracker, we recall some of football’s finest strikes

NB: for the purposes of this article, we have gone with the same definition of a volley as suggested in this piece: namely that a volley is only a volley when it does not touch the floor between the previous player touching the ball and the ball being struck at goal (it does not matter how many touches the striker has). No, we are not naïve enough to expect all comments to adhere to this definition.

Also, this list does not purport to be definitive. We are aware that Marco van Basten’s volley in the European Championship final of 1988 is probably among the top six goals of all time, never mind the top six volleys, but we decided to do something else. We hope this does not spoil your day.

1) Zinedine Zidane, REAL MADRID 2-1 Bayer Leverkusen, European Cup final, 15/05/2002

Many descriptions of sporting greatness justifiably refer to a subject who has been able to bend a seismic contest to his will, but even rarer is the man who can bend it to his skill. There has been no more significant football example than Zinedine Zidane’s volley in the European Cup final of 2002, the greatest winning goal in history*.

Never mind two goals in a World Cup final and a chestbutt that almost made violence cool; this was absolutely Zizou’s zenith. In some respects, the best part is not the whirling volley but the furious concentration as the ball drops from the heavens. Zidane stares at the ball like a stalker before contorting his body into a grotesque and ugly position – but one that enabled him to produce a moment of unforgettable beauty.

* By this we mean the final goal in a single-goal victory

2) Juan Sebastian Verón, LAZIO 1-2 Feyenoord, European Cup Group D, 01/03/2000

There are flying volleys. There are lobs. There are shots with the outside of the foot. There are flying volleyed lobs. There are flying volleys with the outside of the foot. There are lobs with the outside of the foot. And then there’s this sinew-straining, foot-tensing masterpiece.

(There is also an amusingly Verónish aspect to it. Not even Enoch Powell was as loath to embrace the left as the entirely right-footed Verón, who simply refuses to use his left foot in case the wind changes.)

3) Eric Cantona, Wimbledon 0-3 MANCHESTER UNITED, FA Cup fifth round, 20/02/1994

The volley is widely perceived as the hardest skill in football, but the flip side of that difficulty is that it is the perfect tool with which to demonstrate your superiority, as Eric Cantona showed at Selhurst Park in 1994. The backstory is important here: Cantona should have been sent off in the previous round, at Norwich, and in the seemingly interminable build-up to this match (the FA Cup was big news in those days), Wimbledon promised to ruffle his feathers, get in his face, and other popular cliches. Early on Vinnie Jones piled in with a laughable and predictable reducer; Cantona simply looked Jones up and down with the sort of magisterial contempt that only he could muster, and then, just before half-time, showed how you really hurt someone on a football field.

Gary Elkins made his only contribution to football history by heading Denis Irwin’s long cross to the edge of the box, whereupon Cantona killed the ball with a velvety touch and then leathered it beyond Hans Segers. It was a perfectly unanswerable piece of skill that broke Wimbledon, who had been in the game until then, completely. There is some rather absurd revisionism going round about Cantona’s contribution to the Premier League. He might not have been the greatest overseas player in English football history – the quality of the game in this country has increased so much in the last 15 years – but nobody has been so superior to his peers. And nobody knew how to demonstrate that superiority in such a regal manner. This was not a footballer; this was Cantona.

4) Darío Rodríguez, Denmark 2-1 URUGUAY, World Cup Group A, 01/06/2002

One of football’s more cringeworthy experiences occurs when a player – someone like Gary Neville or, well, Gary Neville – lines up a long-range shot that everyone else in the entire world knows is going miles over the bar. They rumble towards the ball, convinced that they are about to define their careers; we recoil behind the sofa. It’s like seeing your mate try to pull someone palpably out of their league. The same feeling prevailed when Darío Rodríguez galumphed towards the ball, almost in slow motion, during the World Cup match between Denmark and Uruguay in 2002.

The set-up had been so perfect, with the ball not touching the floor after a corner had been headed clear then controlled, controlled again and flipped sideways by Pablo Garcia, that you just knew Rodríguez was about to endanger low-flying aircraft. Except he didn’t. He slashed across the ball immaculately to send it spinning away from Thomas Sorensen and into the corner. The skill from Garcia made the goal even more special – tic, tic, tic, BOOM – and Rodríguez set off with the entirely warranted celebration of a man who had indeed defined his career. (And equalised for his country in a vital World Cup game but, well, we’re all human.)

5) Gianluca Vialli/Roberto Mancini, Napoli 1-4 Sampdoria, 18/11/1990

We have eulogised this pair of volleys once or twice before, but we’ll never tire of doing so. The same game!

6) Hans Krankl, AUSTRIA 3-2, West Germany, World Cup Group B, 21/06/1978

To misquote Walter Sobchak in The Big Lebowski: a volley is not ‘Nam; there are rules. And Rule No1 is that you do not hit a volley while leaning back. That, among other things, makes Hans Krankl’s wundergoal in the 1978 World Cup so special. When he controlled the ball he was facing his own goal, but managed to adjust quickly to manufacture the shot and then control it perfectly with the instep. Given the angle of his body, which was going backwards like a falling oak, it’s a miracle that he kept the ball in the stadium, never mind on target. The quickness of his movements, both physically and mentally, is also startling: there is a lovely moment in the split-second between the first and second touches when we realise what he has done, and is about to do: snap, Krankl, pop. Or, as the peerless Barry Davies put it, “Oh Krankl! Ohhh Kraaankl!“

Incidentally, at first the appreciation of this goal was diluted by the fact that, for Austria, it was a dead game. But then no game between Austria and West Germany was dead, as this commentary of Krankl’s subsequent winner confirms.

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Steven Gerrard’s winner at Bolton was widely described as a volley, but can that really be so when the ball has bounced?

The laws of football now stretch to precisely 140 pages, but our comprehension of them could probably be covered in 140 characters. Football has always been a simple, intuitively understood game, with exceptions to that few and far between.

Two spring to mind. The first is the offside law, the bane of pepper pots up and down the land. Though the ever-changing interpretation of offside has caused much confusion, it’s actually a pretty straightforward concept and one that is, at least, exactly defined. The same is not true when it comes to volleys. Depending which watercooler you lurk by, you will find an entirely different comprehension of what constitutes a volley.

By way of example, Steven Gerrard’s winner at Bolton on Saturday was widely described as a volley, yet the ball bounced before he adjusted his body to lash it into the net. As such, can it really be called a volley? There is scarcely anything resembling consensus on this issue. Take a not dissimilar goal from Gerrard in the 2006 FA Cup final, which was described by both Wikipedia and this site as a volley even though it bounced twice before he thrashed it into the net.

The confusion is all the more inexplicable given that we all grew up playing a game in which a volley was precisely characterised: Heads and Volleys. In that, if the ball bounced it was not a volley. Simple. Yet many now think they know different. Are you really smarter than your 10-year-old self?

In the spirit of this, and in view of our commitment to tackle the really big issues, we have attempted to split this type of shot into four sub-genres.

1) A volley

When the ball has not bounced since being touched by the previous player. Obvious examples include Zinedine Zidane’s European Cup-winning goal in 2002 and Marco van Basten’s miraculous finish in the European Championship final of 1988. But it also includes goals where the attacker has had more than one touch, provided the ball does not hit the floor (see No4), such as this outrageous finish for Swindon by Simon Cox.

2) A half-volley

Many football fans say a half-volley is a shot struck when the ball has bounced once, but in tennis and in cricket there is a different – and surely correct – understanding of the term. A half-volley is hit at precisely the moment that the ball bounces or a split-second after, as with this effort from David Ginola or umpteen strikes from the king of the half-volley, Matthew Le Tissier (here we have exhibits A, B, C and D). With half-volleys it shouldn’t matter whether the ball has bounced before it is then struck on the bounce, as with this famous half-volley from Gerrard or this deranged masterpiece from Tony Yeboah; the only defining characteristic is the point at which contact is made, not what has gone before.

3) A bouncing ball

Examples including that Gerrard goal in the 2006 FA Cup final, and Mark Hughes’s famous scissor-smash against Spain. And although “struck a bouncing ball into the top corner” sounds nowhere near as exciting as “volleyed into the top corner”, these surely aren’t volleys. After all, they would not have counted in Heads and Volleys. In a sense that is a little harsh on Hughes, because his was a harder skill than most, but to call it a volley is as illogical as counting shots that hit the woodwork as shots on target. But this type of goal deserves a better name. A bolley? Oh.

4) A make-your-own volley

These are goals where the player manufactures the volley himself, having received either a flat pass or a bouncing one. The primest cuts are probably Paul Gascoigne against Scotland and Thierry Henry against Manchester United. This in no way reduces the majesty of such goals – Henry’s in particular is terrifyingly good – but they are not volleys in the truest sense, because the ball is so much easier to strike and control. It’s basic physics. But this type of goal also needs a name. A molley? Oh.

At least we now know what constitutes a volley. It’s simple. Right?

It’s Real Madrid or nothing, says Ribéry

• Chelsea and Manchester United set for another snub
• France midfielder intent on leaving Bayern Munich

Chelsea and Manchester United’s hopes of signing Franck Ribéry appear to be receding, with the France midfielder saying he wants to leave Bayern Munich and join Real Madrid.

Ribéry is quoted today in L’Equipe saying: “I have made up my mind, I want to leave. It will be Real or nothing. I will wait to see how things pan out but I would like to hold talks with the Bayern management soon.”

Chelsea had identified Ribéry as a possible headline signing but feared that his compatriot Zinedine Zidane, now a special adviser at Real, would use his influence to bring the 26-year-old to the Bernabéu.

Manchester United have also been linked with Ribéry although their new policy of signing only players under 26 had made Old Trafford a less likely destination.

Ribéry’s compatriot Karim Benzema has already agreed to join the Spanish side from Lyon and become Real’s third major signing of the summer after the arrivals of Kaka from Milan and Cristiano Ronaldo from United.

Bayern officials have repeatedly said Ribéry, who joined them in 2007 from Marseille, is not for sale. Their general manager Uli Hoeness does not believe Ribéry’s desire to leave alters their position. “Does Franck want to go to Real?” he asked. “For us, that changes absolutely anything. Life is not always a fairytale. Real have not made us a specific proposal and we do not need their money.”

Chelsea fear Ribéry will join Real Madrid

• Zidane may persuade Ribéry to sign for Real Madrid
• Michael Essien’s agent says midfielder could move

Chelsea are fearful Real Madrid will beat them to the signature of Franck Ribéry, their top summer transfer target, and also received a coded message from Michael Essien suggesting that the club ought to appreciate him more.

Ribéry has emerged as the marquee signing to usher in Chelsea’s era under Carlo Ancelotti and the London club have made an opening bid of around £40m to Bayern Munich for the France international, which was rejected.

But Ribéry’s compatriot Zinedine Zidane, a special adviser at Real to the returning president, Florentino Pérez, has made it his mission to sign his fellow countryman and Chelsea are worried that his influence may prove decisive. Real have embarked on a dizzying spending spree, signing Kaka from Milan for £56.2m, ahead of Chelsea, and Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United for £80m.

Essien signed a new five-year contract at Stamford Bridge last season but, according to his agent Fabien Piveteau, he remains in demand and would be open to possibilities. “Some clubs are interested in Michael,” said Piveteau. “He likes Chelsea very much but football is football and if Real Madrid, Barcelona or some other club make an offer, he needs to sit down and discuss what is best for him.”

Chelsea are closing in on the CSKA Moscow left-winger Yuri Zhirkov and hope to conclude the deal by the end of the week, despite their existing winger, Florent Malouda, signing a new four-year contract yesterday. The club will also take the 19-year-old Manchester City striker Daniel Sturridge, although the fee will be determined by a tribunal.

Real threaten to freeze out Robben

• Madrid want to recoup £30m for former Chelsea winger
• Pérez still in the chase for Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso

Real Madrid have warned Arjen Robben that they are prepared to leave him out of their squad next season if he refuses to leave the club this summer. The Dutchman is not keen to leave the Santiago Bernabéu and his father responded to reports of a move to Tottenham Hotspur by insisting there was “no way” his son would sign for the White Hart Lane club. But Robben has been left in little doubt as to his position at Madrid.

The club’s director general, Jorge Valdano, has admitted: “It would be better if Robben listened to the offers coming in for him.” And it has now emerged that he has threatened the Dutchman with the possibility of being banished to the stands in a World Cup year if he insists on staying. Robben risks being left without a squad number and not being registered for La Liga or the Champions League.

Madrid consider Robben too injury prone to stay at the Bernabéu and have earmarked Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribéry to occupy his position on the left of the attack. The club’s adviser, Zinedine Zidane, has said that Madrid “will do all we can to sign Ribery”. Although sources at the club play down its significance, Robben is not helped by his status as Ramon Calderon’s marquee signing – the one promise the former president kept.

However, the central reason for wanting to sell Robben is financial, as Madrid seek to recoup some of the money spent on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka and to raise cash to make more signings this summer. Madrid already have 30 players in their squad and plan to sign as many as five more, with the president, Florentino Pérez, tonight claiming the transfer of David Villa was “just a matter of time”. Spanish league rules allow for only 25 first-team squad members.

That has left Madrid looking to offload as many as nine current players and Robben is top of the list. He is the one expendable player for whom Madrid believe they can command a major fee. He joined the club for £24m from Chelsea two years ago and Madrid remain hopeful that, after an impressive second half to the last campaign, he could bring in as much as £30m.

Madrid will have been encouraged in their pursuit of the Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso after he failed to dismiss suggestions that he was looking to leave Anfield. Asked by the Cadena Ser radio station if he would be disappointed having to stay at Liverpool next season, he responded: “I can’t answer that question.” To which the interviewer replied: “And with that you have said it all.”

Meanwhile Barcelona have met representatives of Alonso’s current midfield partner, Javier Mascherano. A two-hour meeting was held between Mascherano’s agent, Walter Tamer, and Barcelona in the Rey Juan Carlos I hotel in the Catalan capital. Barcelona, however, believe the ball is in Liverpool’s court and Rafael Benítez says the Argentinian is not for sale.