Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Zinedine Zidane best XI: Who joins usual suspects Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the former Real Madrid legend's dream team

The Castilla manager has picked his best team currently playing the game and includes one rather surprising choice

Jack de Menezes
Tuesday 16 December 2014 15:05 GMT
Comments
Zinedine Zidane's Best XI
Zinedine Zidane's Best XI (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Former Real Madrid and France legend Zinedine Zidane has selected his current best XI that he would like to manage – and has surprisingly included four forwards and an out-of-form Yaya Toure.

Unsurprisingly though, the side features seven Real players including Ballon d’Or favourite Cristiano Ronaldo, while just two Barcelona players make the cut in the form of Lionel Messi and Dani Alves.

The only shock is the inclusion of Toure, who has scored just three goals in the Premier League this season, and had been criticised for his below-par performance at the start of the campaign. The Ivorian has looked to close to his best in recent weeks, but the inclusion of him in a best XI side is somewhat bizarre given the likes of Xabi Alonso, Toni Kroos, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas have been omitted.

Alves is the only non-Real player to feature in the back-four with Iker Casillas in goal, while Toure is partnered in midfielder by Luka Modric. Perhaps bending the rules a tad, Zidane has made room for Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the right despite being an out-and-out striker, and Zidane may receive a frosty response if he dare ask the Swede to play out wide.

Castilla coach Zinedine Zidane
Castilla coach Zinedine Zidane (Getty Images)

Ibrahimovic is joined in attack by Ronaldo, Messi and Real striker Karim Benzema to complete the line-up, and it’s fair to say that this team would be pretty unbeatable.

See Zidane's dream team by clicking on the gallery below.

However, there’s no room in the side for world-record signing Gareth Bale, nor Barcelona’s summer recruit Luis Suarez, with Zidane clearly thinking that the two Spanish clubs have shelled out more than they should have for the combined £163m players.

They didn't even make the bench, with Zidane choosing World Cup winner Manuel Neuer, his Germany team-mate Phillip Lahm, Frenchmen Raphael Varane, Franck Ribery and Paul Pogba, Barcelona's Iiesta and Toure's Manchester City team-mate Sergio Aguero.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in