Zidane loses composure on the sideline and embraces his «ridiculous side» after Olise's winning goal

Zinedine Zidane offered one of the most spontaneous images of his early tenure as France manager: on Monday evening, during the team’s victory in Belgium in the Nations League (0-1), the coach sprinted along the touchline before furiously striking a ball that was lying near the bench, at the precise moment Michael Olise scored the winning goal.

Everything came down to the final minutes of a match where the Blues were struggling to capitalize on their dominance. Olise controlled the ball with his shoulder, embarked on a solo run and beat the Belgian goalkeeper. On the sideline, Zidane sensed it coming before the action even concluded, and he found it impossible to stay still.

When questioned immediately after, the manager displayed a radiant smile and a hoarse voice. Teased by his former teammate Bixente Lizarazu — “You were going to pull a muscle!” — Zidane quickly owned the moment: “I started running because I wanted to go with Michael, I saw him dribbling and I felt he was going to score. I knew it. In any case, I was fully with him.”

In his press conference, the 1998 World Cup winner returned to that instant with disarming candor. “I don’t even know what I did, actually! I saw the ball, I had to kick it, be a bit ridiculous, but it’s no big deal,” he concluded with a contagious laugh.

The sequence, already widely shared, illustrates a reality that Zidane has never sought to hide since taking office: beneath the measured demeanor of the manager, the fire of the footballer is never far away.