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As Zinedine Zidane was bossing France to victory against Brazil, imposing his ferocious will to win on team-mates and opponents alike, barely a flicker of emotion showed on that angular, sweat-drenched face. Only in close-ups was the hard, predatory gleam in his eyes apparent. It was easy to understand why the makers of a new documentary that trained 17 high-definition cameras on "Zizou" for every minute of his final match for Real Madrid liken him to the brooding, impassive hero of a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.
Zidane's journey from a childhood in one of Marseilles' tough quartiers difficiles, La Castellane, to his enduring place in opinion polls as France's most admired public figure is a measure of the man as well as the footballer. Modest, dignified and socially aware, devoted to his extended family, he inhabits a world that presents a telling contrast to
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Film-makers liken Zidane to the brooding hero of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western |
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the bling-driven existence of the Beckhams.
Zidane attributes everything he has achieved to the influence and inspiration of his father, Smail, who left his native Algeria in search of a better life and, like so many poor immigrants from North Africa, found France a hard and unwelcoming place. Although he rarely lets his guard down in public, when he speaks of Smail the emotion is never far away. "My father drummed it into me that immigrants need to work twice as hard as anyone else," Zidane recalls in his twangy Marseille accent, "and also that they must never give up."
Amid the delirium that greeted France's victory over Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final, Zidane's first thought was what this would do for the pride and self-respect of France's non-white communities, from which most of his team-mates were - and still are - drawn. He was 
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