Zinedine Zidane

[soul24rage]

Xavi had a better peak season in terms of numbers and consistency but Zidane could do more and was more influential on the sport obviously. He was also more of a main man and a better player to build your team around.

All things considered, I have Zidane ahead of Xavi. Both better than Iniesta/Modric overall.

Compared to Xavi, Ziou can't do more

 

[DonAK]

Which team did build around Zidane?

 

[Temptation]

Compared to Xavi, Ziou can't do more

He can though. He has way more tools in his locker. He's strong, good in the air, two-footed, can dribble better, shoot from distance better and take set pieces better. Can also entertain people with an endless array of tricks and flicks. Easier on the eye and more elegant too.

Sure Xavi can control the game/tempo better and has a superior final ball.

Don't see how this is a controversial take. Seems pretty obvious to me?

 

[jamrock]

He can headbutt better

 

[soul24rage]

He can though. He has way more tools in his locker. He's strong, good in the air, two-footed, can dribble better, shoot from distance better and take set pieces better. Can also entertain people with an endless array of tricks and flicks. Easier on the eye and more elegant too.

Sure Xavi can control the game/tempo better and has a superior final ball.

Don't see how this is a controversial take. Seems pretty obvious to me?

Zizou is the face of the team, but Xavi is the system.

You take Xavi out, the team's whole identity changes, something Zizou can't do.

 

[vegitot]

I watched the video finally. Great research by balón as usual.

The real comparison is Iniesta with Zidane. Xavi is arguably the greatest CM, but the AM position... first of all it belongs to Diego Maradona. Zidane and Iniesta are close to each other, as @KingLeo10 put it, very similar trajectories. Zidane for me has the slight advantage being more technical.

Iniesta and Zidane are similiar. They are both skillfull. Zidane has better shooting skill while Iniesta's passing is sharper.

But Iniesta has more disadvantages due to not be the main man of his team (behind Messi and Xavi and then later MSN trio).

So Xavi's comparison is more fair because both Xavi and Zidane had the full trust from their team to be the main man (Xavi even shared it with Messi).