Zinedine Zidane is one of the best midfielders of all time.
Zidane was crowned with the Ballon d’Or award in 1998 after he helped France to their first-ever World Cup triumph.
The French maverick amassed over 227 appearances for Real Madrid, registering a whopping 166 goal involvements.
Zidane was the embodiment of a Galactico and when he finally hung up his boots in 2006, he carved out a remarkable career on the touchline, too.
Under Zidane’s stewardship, Real won three Champions League titles in a row, though, for all of his glittering success, he remained humble.
That was evinced when he spoke about the prospect of facing Leicester City in the quarter-finals of the competition back in 2017.
Zinedine Zidane once said he really didn’t want to play against Leicester City
Back in March 2017, Leicester were enjoying a truly incredible run in the Champions League and were fresh off the back of a two-legged knockout win against Sevilla.
Ahead of the quarter-final draw, then Real Madrid manager Zidane admitted that he really didn’t want to face Leicester, noting that they keep defeating the odds.
“I don’t think there will be a single coach who are hoping they face Leicester,” the Real boss admitted.
“They keep achieving what they are told they can’t achieve. Many thought they wouldn’t hold on to their lead at the top of the Premier League — and they did.
“Many thought they could not turnaround the defeat against Sevilla — and they did. Whatever club Leicester face, they [Leicester] won’t be favourites. And with that pressure off them and on the other team, anything can happen.
“We have seen they have some very talented players but they also play with a lot of passion and heart. That is never easy to face.
“In the last eight, you are going to be in for two tough games. It’s the stage of the competition where everybody starts to believe and to dream they can win it.”
Leicester ultimately suffered defeat to Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals
Leicester ended up facing Real’s rivals Atletico Madrid, who defeated them 2-1 across the two-legged tie.
Though, it wasn’t without controversy, as Atletico won 1-0 in the first leg through an Antoine Griezmann penalty – which actually should’ve been a free-kick.
Marc Albrighton brought down Griezmann just outside of the penalty box, but the referee instead awarded the spot-kick.
So, whilst it still remains a special run in the competition, there is a sense among Leicester fans of ‘what could’ve been’.