Pierre Ménès accuses Zinedine Zidane of fraud within the French national team

In the corridors of the French national team's training centre, journalist Pierre Ménès, 63, let his resentment towards Zinedine Zidane, the new manager of the Bleus, burst out during an interview given to Public. “I do not carry the man Zidane in my heart,” he declared, recalling that he is not a great admirer of the former number 10.

A clear-cut view on the player's past

Ménès does not dispute Zidane's extraordinary talent when he was a player, but he states that the man's personality never appealed to him. He says he has interviewed Zidane several times, describing those interviews as “the worst of the tanned” and “the worst wooden language in the history of humanity,” even worse than Paul Le Guen.

The story of a difficult encounter

According to the journalist, he was sent to Turin by L’Équipe to obtain an interview, with the instruction to stay fifteen days if necessary. Arriving at the training session, he only got ten minutes with Zidane, whom he describes as “on the brink of fraud.” He recalls a first press conference where the manager was “happy, smiling, almost funny,” adding that “funny Zidane, you have to get up early.”

Criticism of the new tenure

Ménès concludes by emphasizing that, despite a good quality of play against Belgium, Zidane will have to “hang on” to match the successes of his predecessor. He notes that, aside from Euro 2021, the Bleus have either won or lost against the competition winners, implying an extra pressure on the new coach.