When Antonio Conte first met Zinedine Zidane, it was “with a mixture of curiosity and confidence”.
Zidane had just joined Juventus, Conte’s club, to decorate a midfield where Conte supplied the horsepower. It was a statement signing of an understated individual. Zidane, then 24, “tiptoed in from Bordeaux,” as Conte put in his memoir, ‘Head, Heart and Legs’.
After one or two practice sessions together, Conte took a closer look at the shy Frenchman and noticed something else as Zidane made his balletic turns, his elegant shifts of direction with the ball: ‘Zizou’, as he was nicknamed, had "unusually flexible ankles". They were part of what made Zidane, the Ballon D’Or winner, capable “of extraordinary things.”
Conte and Zidane would be teammates through more than 150 matches for Juve in the late 1990s, complementary players with distinct skillsets in a team that balanced Conte’s ruggedness and Zidane’s refinement well enough to win two Serie A titles and reach two Champions League finals before Zidane moved to Real Madrid for a then record transfer fee.
On Tuesday evening, Conte and Zidane reunite, managers of Inter Milan and Real, neither of them quite comfortable enough with the circumstances of the fixture to plan convivial, post-match reminiscing about their Juve days.
Champions League Group B already has a make-or-break look for the group's supposed heavyweights: Inter are yet to win, Madrid have a single point, and, as it stands, Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach would be going through to the last 16 at their expense.
So these back-to-back games, in Madrid on Tuesday and in Milan on November 25, carry the weight of a knockout tie, spiced up by a more recent Conte-Zidane backstory.
Conte very nearly became Madrid's manager two years ago. Terms had been all but agreed, his strategy to lift Madrid out of a trough approved by Real's executives, until both parties stepped back, and four months later Zidane was instead invited to return to the Madrid job he had left, abruptly, in the middle of 2018.
Conte at the Bernabeu seemed a good idea in many respects. Madrid had just sacked Julen Lopetegui after a disastrous 5-0 loss to Barcelona, and were sinking. Conte, having left Chelsea, was available. His focus, authority, and distinguished record – league titles with Juventus and Chelsea – appealed to Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez.
The idea was less attractive in the Madrid dressing room. As well-sourced reports of an approach for Conte surfaced, the captain Sergio Ramos chose to air his thoughts on what type of man a Madrid manager should be.
“The managing of the dressing room is more important than technical knowledge,” advised Ramos. “It’s always been my view that respect is earned, not imposed.”
It sounded, if not quite a veto, like a signal that the idea of Conte, with his authoritarian reputation, was not to the liking of certain senior players. Madrid instead appointed a caretaker, Santi Solari, and pleaded with Zidane, a coach with a fame for flexibility in his man management as well as his ankles, to come back.
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Inter v Parma
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Inter Milan's Ivan Perisic shoots at goal during his side's 2-2 Serie A draw with Parma on October 31. AFP -
Inter Milan manager Antonio Conte at the San Siro. Reuters -
Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez. Reuters -
Parma's Gervinho celebrates after scoring his second goal against Inter. AFP -
Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic scores their late leveller against Parma. Reuters -
Gervinho is mobbed by his Parma teammates after scoring their second goal. Reuters -
Ivan Perisic header hits the back of the net to earn Inter a point. Reuters -
INter manager Antonio Conte gives instructions to Arturo Vidal. AFP -
Inter Milan’s Roberto Gagliardini. Reuters -
Inter Milan’s Christian Eriksen evades the challenge of Juraj Kucka of Parma. Reuters -
Inter's Nicolo Barella wins a header. AFP -
Inter’s Aleksandar Kolarov battles for possession with Gervinho of Parma. Reuters
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Two years on from Madrid's Conte dilemma, Zidane has added a Spanish league title to the three Champions Leagues and the Liga he won in his first, garlanded spell in charge.
Conte is into his second season scratching at the decade-long Inter itch to win Serie A. Inter finished second in Italy in Conte’s first campaign, and reached the final of the Europa League.
But they arrive in Madrid winless in their last six matches and sixth in Serie A, with fitness doubts over striker Romelu Lukaku and with at least one superstar gradually coming over to the opinion that Conte is indeed the tough, unyielding taskmaster of legend. Christian Eriksen, who joined Inter from Tottenham Hotspur in January, has started only four of eight games this season.
Madrid’s Eden Hazard, who had one or two up and downs under Conte at Chelsea, has started just twice, though that’s eight fewer times than Zidane would have liked.
Recovered from stubbornly persistent muscular problems, Hazard should be in the line-up against Inter. “We know the quality he has and we intend to use it,” said Zidane.
“We have to treat this game like a final,” he added, “against a good, physical side.” And against a tenacious ex-teammate always destined to be a boss.
“Antonio was my captain and a very important teammate,” recalled Zidane of the Juve years. “It was no surprise to me that he went into coaching.”
