Zinedine Zidane reveals why he picked the No 5 shirt at Actual Madrid earlier than Jude Bellingham adopted in his footsteps by taking the quantity… as he opens up on his profession throughout interview with Lionel Messi

Zinedine Zidane has lastly revealed why he opted to don the No 5 jersey throughout his embellished run at Actual Madrid. 

The World Cup winner with France joined the Spanish giants from Juventus in 2001 and held a starring position on the membership for the remaining 5 years of his enjoying profession. 

However such was the midfielder tie to Los Blancos that he opted to start his teaching journey on the Bernabeu in 2013, becoming a member of then-Madrid coach Jose Mourinho as an assistant. 

Zidane’s spell on the helm of the membership between 2016 and 2018, and a second stint between 2019 and 2021, noticed Actual Madrid get pleasure from a interval of dominance that yielded two LaLiga triumphs, two Supercopa trophies and a powerful three Champions League titles. 

However for a real No 10, the 51-year-old’s selection of blouse quantity was an eyebrow-raising one, and one thing queried by Lionel Messi throughout a dialog between the 2 icons for Adidas. 

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‘Florentino Perez, the president, did not just like the gamers carrying the numbers 25, 30, 35,’ Zidane defined.  ‘He was from the old fashioned. The #1 for the goalkeeper after which as much as quantity 10.

‘(Manolo) Sanchis had quantity 5 for Madrid, he left, and once I obtained there, the president instructed me ‘would not you prefer to have a quantity from 1 to 10?’ and we picked the quantity 5 as a result of he did not need the 25, 30, 35. 

‘This isn’t soccer, it’s American soccer, so in the long run, I obtained quantity 5.’ 

With the choice, Zidane established a legacy for the quantity – and one which may weigh closely on those that inherit it. 

However Jude Bellingham, who has sported the jersey since his June switch from Borussia Dortmund, has had no such hang-ups. 

The England starlet has been within the type of his life since his £113million transfer to Madrid, and notched up an astonishing 13 targets in his first 14 appearances.

Against this, throughout Zidane’s debut season on the membership, the France worldwide scored 12 targets throughout all competitions. 

When requested if he had chosen the No 5 jersey to pay tribute to Zidane throughout this 12 months’s Ballon d’Or Ceremony – which noticed the 20-year-old declare the Kopa Trophy – Bellingham could not resist a bit of joke. 

‘There wasn’t a lot else left!’ Bellingham shared, however including: ‘It provides a bit of little bit of stress however I wished to pay homage to considered one of my idols.’