The dream ends in the quarter-final for Luca Zidane. Defeated, like his partners, by Nigeria this Saturday evening (0-2), the Algerian goalkeeper left the African Cup of Nations on a bitter note.
After a promising start – no goals conceded during his first three starts in the competition – the son of the legend Zinedine Zidane, once again present to support him in the stands of the Grand Stade de Marrakech, failed to prevent the rout of the Fennecs, dominated by a superior Nigerian team in all areas of the game.
While he had been little called upon since the start of the CAN, the last bastion of Granada, in the Spanish second division, saw waves crash over his cage throughout the game. If he was sometimes able to intervene, as on Ademola Lookman’s powerful strike (23rd) or by capturing Bruno Onyemaechi’s free kick in two stages (45th + 2), the youngest of the Zidane family also showed excitement on certain outings.
Placement error and naive exit
Shortly before the half-hour mark, he was assisted on his line by Ramy Bensebaïni, decisive in preventing Calvin Bassey’s recovery from shaking the net, after misreading the trajectory of the free kick hit by Lookman (29th). The kicking game, its primary quality, was also put to the test by the Nigerian pressing even if the blame was shared with Aïssa Mandi and Hicham Boudaoui on his intercepted clearance leading to the very big chance from Akor Adams (37th).
In the second half, Zidane ended up fetching the ball from the back of his cage twice. If the passivity of his defense is also to be questioned, the Fennecs goalkeeper is not unforgettable in the two Nigerian achievements. On Victor Osimhen’s opening score, he handled the situation strangely by jumping and letting the ball pass under him, while he seemed well placed to block the angle at the near post (0-1, 47th).
Close to fighting at the end of the match
His responsibility is perhaps a little more involved on the second goal, where he naively throws himself at the feet of Akor Adams, leaving plenty of time for the Sevilla FC striker to eliminate him before finishing in the empty goal (0-2, 57th).
Saved by his post on the head of the same Adams, the 27-year-old goalkeeper could even have conceded a third goal at the very end of the match (81st). Proof of the frustration felt by the second son of “Zizou”, the latter found himself at the heart of a scuffle involving some of the 22 actors at the end of the game. Seeming to want to do battle with the Nigerian Raphael Onyedika, he appeared in a rage and had to be restrained by several of his partners and adversaries.
