Zinédine Zidane enjoys his first victory as coach of the France team

The French team did not shine, but it won. And that's the main thing for Zinédine Zidane, who was eagerly awaiting his first match as coach of the Blues. Since he set down his bags at Clairefontaine, Zizou has repeated the importance of a victory to launch his mandate, with the public and the players. It's done, after the painful success of the Tricolores in Türkiye (1-0).

“It's a lot of emotions, it's a successful first, which is not easy especially here, with a complicated terrain and atmosphere,” reveled Zinédine Zidane at the microphone of TF1. "We didn't let our opponent play too much, we pressed them high enough. We did the right things with the ball. We were very intense. I saw a lot of interesting things while we did three and a half training sessions. It's encouraging. I'm happy with what they did."

Fabien Barthez omnipresent

Surprised by the speed of the protocol, the new coach missed the start of the Marseillaise, which did not lessen his emotion: "The Marseillaise is always the same emotion. It's been a very long time since I've experienced it, the fact of coming back as a coach is special. We're taking advantage of the moment." If he uses the "we", it is in particular because he is experiencing this new adventure with Fabien Barthez, very active, beyond his role as goalkeeper coach.

"Fabien is very invested, very involved. He didn't surprise me, that's why I chose him. We forgot that he is someone who is passionate, especially for his goalkeepers, but not only that. He gives his opinion, he is present", added on TF1 Zizou, who returned to his choices, particularly offensively: "We can play in several ways. Kylian started on the side, he can play everywhere up front. It was good to see everyone". Tactical precepts that Zinédine Zidane is only just beginning to distill, even if he appreciates the distance already covered: “Everything we have done over the last 3-4 days is interesting.”