25 years ago, Zidane made his Real Madrid debut exhausted by uncontrollable frenzy

On August 19, 2001, Zinédine Zidane stepped onto the pitch for the first time wearing Real Madrid’s white shirt, in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Saragosse (1-1). That evening he became the most expensive player in football history — 75 million euros — and also recorded his first official assist for the Merengues, even though Flavio Conceição had opened the scoring with a personal effort.

The excitement generated by his arrival in the Spanish capital quickly spilled beyond the sporting realm. A year after the Figo coup snatched from Barcelona, president Florentino Pérez achieved his most resonant signing before Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009: the number 10 of the French national team, 1998 World Cup champion and 2000 European champion. In six weeks, “Zizou” had made the cover of Marca eighteen times.

The pressure had left visible traces. During France’s match against Denmark on August 15, 2001 in Nantes, Zidane confided his unease: “It’s madness on a daily basis, I’m the novelty of the summer. I hope all this will stop when the competition begins. I need to concentrate on the pitch and forget everything happening around me. There are far too many demands, things need to calm down. At some point, I’ll say enough.” Le Parisien described him at the time as “visibly tired and noticeably thinner”.

What followed would prove him right. Three days after that draw against Saragosse, Real lifted the Spanish Super Cup at the Bernabéu thanks to a Raúl hat-trick (3-0). At the end of that first season, Zidane won the Ligue des Champions with Claude Makélélé — the only Champions League title of his playing career — delivering victory to Real against Bayer Leverkusen with a legendary left-footed volley. He would add only one La Liga title, in 2003, before leaving the club five years later — and returning as manager to claim three consecutive Ligue des Champions titles.