Zinedine Zidane’s record as a manager includes a feat no one else in the European game has matched. He won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid, and is the only manager ever to win the competition in three successive seasons. He is one of five coaches to have lifted it on three or more occasions, a group that also includes Bob Paisley, Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, with only Carlo Ancelotti having won it more often.
That haul sits alongside a striking oddity. Across his spell at Real Madrid he won a single La Liga title, and despite the European trophies few would consider him one of the game’s elite coaches. The sense of an unknowable figure goes back to his playing days, when he was already hard to pin down; as a manager, the distance has only grown. He has never given a clear picture of what his idea of football looks like.
What comes next may change that. The framing of a column by Jonathan Wilson argues that Zidane’s next move as France coach may reveal the wizard behind the curtain — the suggestion being that the role could finally make his methods visible.
The discussion forms part of the build-up around France v Italy in the Nations League, which kicks off at 7.45pm BST.