After euro 2012, the French post-90s demon showed a blowout trend, and until today in 2020, the Gaul Rooster is still the number one "treasure team" in Europe. Their talent pool is jaw-dropping, and some fans even joke that they can send 5 squads to the World Cup and reach the final 16.
In fact, since the end of World War II, France has not been the first-class giants in Europe, slightly inferior to top teams such as Germany (including the Federal Republic of Germany) and Italy. Their superstars always seem to emerge in groups and withdraw from the stage of history together.
In the late 1950s, france, led by Kopa, Fontaine and Piantoni, finished third at the 1958 World Cup, but they soon collapsed as their core players faded.
In the 1960s and 1970s, although the hegemon of the domestic league, Saint-Etienne, was unusually strong, and even played against top teams such as Bayern and Liverpool in the Champions League, and reached the Champions League final in 1976. But it wasn't until the late 1970s, when Platini's generation came out, that the French team re-emerged as the mainstream stage.
The years that followed were naturally ups and downs, with Zidane leading the 10-year peak years; after the farce, Deschamps regrouped, and from the 2014 World Cup, the French demons came with visible talent, and they are still the strongest kings at the national team level.
This clear generational change also makes the historical superstars of French football very eye-catching, and the core of the team in each era can be compared with each other to determine who is the first person in history. And such a contest is currently a tit-for-tat confrontation between Zidane and Platini.
If you are an old "ashes" fan who has been watching football since the early 1980s, there is a high probability that Platini is insurmountable; if you are a veteran fan who began to contact football in the mid-to-late 90s, it is likely that Zizou is the king of the times and the strongest and only symbol of French football. Such a debate without quantitative standards is likely to evolve into a war of words, and the author hopes to give his own answer through multi-dimensional analysis.
One. The peak game at the individual level
In terms of position, Zizou is a standard midfielder, and his comprehensive personal ability makes it difficult for us to label him from the position, and can only be functionally considered to be the commander of the tower commander, and the absolute core of the commander of the three armed forces.
Passing, shooting, and carrying are the three basic abilities of core players, and Qizu's passing skills do not need to be repeated, whether it is long or short, short passes, direct passes, transitional transfer balls or penetrating threat balls, he has just the right amount. Fans don't take a certain type of pass as his personal symbol, because his ability is balanced and prominent, and does not need the so-called "fresh move" to embellish.
Zizou's scoring ability is also commendable, although not a striker close to the goal, Zidane has scored a lot of goals in his career, especially the key balls. You can say he's got his free kicks and penalties and left many classics. But the 2 headers in the 1998 World Cup final are inexplicable, and it can only be thought that the destined superstar dominated the game.
Qizu's dribbling ability is also one of his signatures, thanks to the excellent sense of the ball, Qizu's action is very smooth from the beginning of unloading, there will be no sense of stagnation in the connection section, and the follow-up pull and buckle is also very smooth, which makes his medium and slow dribbling have a strong sense of beauty, and also lays a solid foundation for getting rid of defenders through rhythm changes.
In terms of physical fitness and athletic skills, Zidane has two outstanding characteristics, one of which is that he is extremely strong, which is not only the perception of fans, such as Michael Irving's Ballon d'Or teammates, the first impression of Zizou is that he is as strong as a cow, and such a body can stand in the core area of attack and defense in the game, which will not hinder the play of technical ability. The second qizu speed is slow, as mentioned above, he relies more on rhythm changes to confuse opponents, but the lack of absolute speed will leave the defender with reaction time in specific situations, which is also one of Qizu's main flaws.
On a spiritual level, Zidane is a combination of devil and angel, he can be regarded as a napoleon-like commander-in-chief, with him france can be twisted into a rope, in 1998, 2002 and 2006 three major competitions to play well, and in 2002 because Zizou accidentally injured before the start of the game, the defending champion with several top scorers encountered Waterloo, the group stage was declared out.
But you can't just look at one side of everything, Zidane is actually very impulsive, and he has eaten red cards many times in his career. Counting the World Cup alone, in 1998 and 2006, he missed key battles because of suspensions, and if it were not for Blanco and Henry and others to help him survive twice, Zidane would have become a national enemy like Beckham.
This emotional fluctuation is usually imperceptible, but it can change the course of history at critical moments. It can only be said that Qi Zu's luck is still quite good, most of them are out of control, and there are teammates who stand up to help him round the field, but the last battle is difficult to harvest, which has become a regret for eternity.
Compared to Zidane, Platini's position is a bit more difficult to define, and the mainstream term is "attacking midfielder", which was also a characteristic position in the 1980s. Players like Maradona, Zico, Rummenigge and Platini are the absolute attacking core of the team, but tend to be lurking behind the main Indian striker, but in a swing position before the midfield ballast stone.
The basis for being competent in this position is a comprehensive and solid ability to take the ball as an organizer and stand up to complete the finale at key moments. Compared with several other football kings at that time, Platini's personal characteristics are the most distinct.
Still from the perspective of passing, shooting and belting, Platini's scoring ability was almost unmatched in that era. His scoring skills are too rich, long-range shots, direct free kicks, fish jump headers, flexible strong points in front of goal, basically in any position, Platini has the means to score the ball.
The highlight of his career came at Euro 1984, where he scored nine goals in five games and remains the all-time top scorer in Euro 2019. Alongside him, Cristiano Ronaldo has played in 4 European Championships, playing more than 20 games in total, and the number of goals has just been equal with his.
His passing is also very distinctive, able to pose a threat across most of the field, both long-distance over-the-top long passes and de Bruyne's tens of meters of ground penetration. After all, as a player with a very prominent killer attribute, once he is closer to the goal, he enters his own range, and creating opportunities for his opponents may not be the first choice.
Dribbling and passing ability are Platini's biggest shortcomings, not to mention the comparison between Zico and Maradona's geniuses, and then to the next level, he has no advantage in this regard. Even British players such as Kevin Keegan and Dalglish have a better hand than Platini in the technical details of the ball.
His physical qualities do not need to be repeated, and people who can swim in the core area for a long time, from the middle circle to the forbidden area can create a threat, without the support of outstanding physical functions, it is impossible to achieve. There is a saying that it is important to remember that the technical ability on the top field can only be played out based on the top physical conditions.
In terms of mental strength, Platini's level is obvious to all, he is not only the captain of the French team, later the head coach; and he became the president of UEFA more than 10 years ago, and few players can reach this height in politics, and his leadership is evident.
So in terms of individual ability, Zidane's dribbling is better than Platini's ability as an organizer; Platini's scoring ability is better than Zizou's, and his leadership is also better. As for other aspects, the two have their own advantages, in short, it is difficult to distinguish between the high and low.
Two. The ultimate contest of team honors
At club level, Zidane, although not a Grand Slam, has also received major honours. Champions League, Serie A champions and La Liga champions carry weight in any age, not to mention the turn of the century when competition is fierce.
Zizou was the absolute core of the team for 12 years, starting as the best young player in Ligue 1 in 1994 until retiring after the 2006 World Cup. So in Bordeaux, Juventus or Real Madrid, his trophies are considered to be won by the team, and this full gold content must also be taken into account.
Zizou at the national team level needs no further introduction, he is one of the few people in the history of the World Cup who has scored in both finals, and euro 2000 and Euro 2004 also had amazing set-pieces. In those years, the French team was all looking at Zidane, and the rest of the central front could not play the role of a pillar at key moments.
Platini played longer in France, joining Juventus in 1982, when he was 27 years old and "older foreign aid" even from today's point of view. And whether it was in Nancy or later Saint-Etienne, he also won a Ligue 1 title.
So most of his honors were won in Juve's 5 years, but during this time Juve was strong enough, sitting on the core of the world championship such as Siea, Tardelli, Zoff, and strong reinforcements such as Bognac, trapponi's Bianconi were in their heyday.
Except for the UEFA Cup, he won all the mainstream trophies during this time, and it was with the departure of him and his contemporaries that the old woman began to decline. Therefore, his club resume is equally bright, and he is also an absolute core of the southern conquest of the north, and almost all the honors.
At the national team level, the story of 1984 will not be repeated, and Platini's scars come from the World Cup. Although he and France were the most vocal before the 1986 match, even Maradona admitted that at that time more people felt that Platini was the first star of the Mexican summer.
But when the game started, people realized that Platini was not as good as before, and it seemed that there was a bit of a hero's intention to be whiteheaded. Although it still reached the semi-finals, objectively speaking, the Gaul rooster at this time did not have the level to impact the Hercules Cup.
The best chance actually came in 1982, in the semi-final against the Federal Republic of Germany, the Frenchman once led 3-1, Rummenigge still played with injury, and the tenacious German miraculously smoothed out the point difference and won the first penalty shootout of the World Cup. That's the most regrettable thing about Platini and his generation of French players, who really had the quality to win the title that year.
Combining the two team honors, the overall is at one level, but the World Cup sometimes means everything, and Zidane has an absolute advantage in this regard. As for the European Golden Globe Awards and other annual individual awards, there is no emphasis on analysis here, the two are in different eras, and they cannot be compared without a scale. Some people think that Platini's golden ball three consecutive is excellent, and some people think that Zidane has three world footballers, not to mention more, the author will not delve into it.
Three. The influence of the times and the evaluation of future generations
Zidane and Platini, both are absolute superstars of their respective eras, if you want to talk about specific status, in the late 90s and early 00s, Zizu and Da Luo were double proud figures in football, but R9's injury came too violently, so in a sense, Zizu sat in the position of the first person in the world for a period of time.
At the peak of Platini's time, the main competitors were Maradona, Rummenigge and Zico, who did not participate in the comparison because zico played in Europe for too short a time; but in the competition between Putini and the old horse and Rummenigge, there was no advantage.
In terms of influence, Maradona was the absolute king of the 80s, and it was no problem for him to be above Platini in terms of skill. As for Rummenigge, he is generally on par with Platini, and there are often victories in the competition, although the influence is not as good as the King of The Universe, but it cannot be said that he must be inferior.
Therefore, from the evaluation of the times, Zidane's status is higher, such a horizontal comparison is feasible, after all, most people are competing in a similar environment, which is higher or lower can still see some clues.
Future generations of evaluation is a matter of opinion, fans of each era will have different answers, like today's fans may not understand the two, or even can not come to any conclusions, or open the mouth to comment, such public opinion is actually of little value.
If you look at the impetus for French football, Platini led the team to win the 1984 European Championship on home, which to a certain extent promoted the prosperity of French football and gave birth to the golden generation of Zizou.
But we can also say that the 98 generation led by Qizu has made outstanding achievements and deeply influenced the French teenagers after the 90s, so that they can thrive more than 10 years later and win the Hercules Cup again in 2018.
Combined with the analysis of the above multiple dimensions, the two are on a par in many ways, and if they have to compete, the World Cup may be the core factor. After all, Zidane has it, Platini does not, this gap cannot be crossed, and in the hearts of many fans, there will be a qualitative gap.