Erected as a priority to succeed Mauricio Pochettino at PSG, Zinedine Zidane was in Paris this Monday evening. No need to shoot high or get lost in guesswork. No secret meeting was scheduled this time with leaders of the Parisian club in order to lay the foundations for the future. The former coach of Real Madrid had, quite simply, an appointment with some of his old accomplices crowned world champions on July 12, 1998.
It is, moreover, a habit established for many years already. Except in 2020, due to the health situation, the ZZ gang likes to meet, once a year, around a good table, in this case the confidential and qualitative one of the restaurant Le Corte, in the 1st arrondissement of the capital. Didier Deschamps and Laurent Blanc had, in particular, not been able to free themselves.
But from Bernard Lama to Lilian Thuram, passing by Fabien Barthez, Alain Boghossian, Bixente Lizarazu or even Youri Djorkaeff, there were a good dozen or so to participate in this moment of frank conviviality. While tasting Italian specialties, in particular succulent pasta with truffles cooked al dente, the laughter erupted. The mood was playful, even schoolboy. The humor at the height of repartee. Some silhouettes are slightly thickened, temples are bald and have turned to salt and pepper, but their friendship is, she, insensitive to the patina of time. This one is also displayed on social networks, Youri Djorkaeff uploading late at night a photo of part of the gang, accompanied by the term “family”.
Touched by mourning, Aimé Jacquet, he was excused. TO the occasion of his 80th birthday, on November 27, his former players and his staff, including Henri Emile, the linchpin of France 98, nevertheless wanted to mark the occasion. They gave him and dedicated “The Allied Memorial”, a two-volume work on the First World War in blue leather cover and gold edge. Initiator of this gift, Philippe Tournon, the press chief of the Blues from 1983 to 2004, then from 2012 to 2018, recently decorated with the Legion of Honor, will then take care of sending him these two books, each weighing more than two kilos.
