The indelible mark of ZZ

United will be guarding against an action replay of quality by a maestro who could have been theirs

They say you have made it when you are instantly recognised by your initials. Think BA, BT or BP. Think REM, OMD, or AC/DC. Think JFK, OJ or FDR.

Now think ZZ. ZZ stands simply for Zinedine Zidane: the most expensive footballer in the history of the game; a World Cup and European Championship winner; the captain of his national team; the unifier of a nation charged with racial tensions; and, most of all, the living proof that some people can achieve heights most would not dare dream of. "Zidane operates on another planet," says perhaps the ultimate perfectionist, Michael Schumacher. "He's like an extraterrestrial."

During the Champions' League quarter-final first leg against Manchester United 12 days ago, the man the French call "Zizou" gave a footballing demonstration of the highest order. "What most amazed me," Frank Leboeuf says, "is that he was brilliant throughout the game. Others around him were tiring at the end, but he was still bossing the proceedings. He is a maestro with a diesel engine."

All great players have great games, but what makes Zidane that much greater is that he has his greatest games when facing his toughest opponents. No one skips nonchalantly over a lunging Roy Keane, out-tricks Ryan Giggs, or beats Rio Ferdinand for pace. No one, that is, apart from ZZ. "He is such a wonderful footballer," Gary Neville, the United defender, had to concede after the 3-1 defeat. "It was like facing the Harlem Globetrotters at times, with Zidane playing the lead role."

Even in a week when the greatest basketball player of all time called it a day, Zizou was occupying most minds. Like Michael Jordan, he has a repertoire of tricks, most notably the double spin on the ball that sees him change direction in mid-flow while retaining possession. Unlike Jordan, though, the Frenchman is no lover of the high life and the high profile. No matter that his fans liken him to Zorro, the masked rider who used the tip of his sword to mark his opponents with a Z, ZZ is not one for taunting. "When he does a trick," says Birmingham City's Christophe Dugarry, Zidane's best friend since they were teenagers, "he is not doing it to embarrass the other player, he is doing it to give himself pleasure. I see him as a dolphin, an animal who likes to be around others and play."

Those left sitting on their derrières must be far from amused when they have been "Zizoued", yet the Frenchman remains a popular and respected figure within the game. Perhaps this is due to the fact that he has stayed so humble off the pitch. Zidane may be the role model of the French, Algerians and Madrileños, but he tries hard to steer clear of the limelight. "He is humble in his greatness," says Roland Courbis, his manager at Bordeaux during the early to mid-Nineties who now coaches at Ajaccio. "Zizou is what we call un hero malgré lui."

One suspects he is a reluctant hero because he cannot quite believe what has happened to him. Everything about Zidane's personal and professional life defies logic. Indeed, no other son of Algerian immigrants is ever likely be the darling of a country that carried the National Front leader Jean-Marie le Pen to the final round of last year's presidential elections. On the field, too, he is unique. Most playmakers are short with low centres of gravity, but Zizou stands at well over six feet and yet has a wonderful touch. In many ways, he is like a big bear in ballerina slippers: tall yet balanced, strong yet agile, powerful yet subtle. The greatest player of all time, Pele, describes him as a "genius who dazzles the planet", while the godfather of French football, Michel Platini, calls ZZ's ability "inexplicable".

Zidane's story, too, is quite extraordinary. He was born in the notoriously deprived northern Marseille suburb of Castellane almost 31 years ago. At home, he was known as Yazid, not Zinedine. He lived in a tower-block apartment that was so small he and his parents (Smail and Malika), three brothers (Jamel, Farid and Nourredine), and one sister (Lila) had to eat in shifts. Zidane, though, has never sought sympathy for his early plight. He has always maintained that, while times were hard, his father, who worked as a watchman in a department store, provided him and his siblings with "everything we could hope for". To many, it is this connection with his roots that makes ZZ so special. "I will never forget who and what made me," he has said. "My upbringing taught me respect, humility, and sharing."

Bixente Lizarazu, a team-mate with Bordeaux and France, endorses Zidane's self-analysis. "His father taught him that life was about human relationships rather than money," the Bayern Munich defender says, "and Zizou has carried those same values into his own family life today with his wife [Veronique] and their three boys [Enzo, Lucas and Theo]." According to his mother, ZZ took no interest in school; only football. Zidane remembers watching his favourite player, the Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli, whom he named his first son after, lead his home club of Olympique de Marseille. "I had an impression of another world," he explains, "and I couldn't imagine it would ever be mine." These days, the football world is very much at ZZ's feet.

Zidane left home at 13 to play for the junior teams of Cannes before making his French First Division debut at the age of 16. He then moved to Girondins Bordeaux in 1992, where he played in the Uefa Cup final and earned his first French cap in 1994. In 1996 Zidane joined Juventus, where he made the transition from very good to exceptional player. "He took on a different dimension in Italy," Aimé Jacquet, the 1998 World Cup manager, says. "Since then, he has cemented his place in the pantheon of all-time greats."

Eric Cantona conformed yesterday that Sir Alex Ferguson turned down the opportunity of signing Zizou before his move from Bordeaux. "He was young, he was free and I recommended him of course," fellow Frenchman Cantona said: "They went to see him in a few games and maybe he wasn't in his best form. I think so because Ferguson knows football perfectly. It was a mistake, I think."

Recalling Zidane's sorcery at the Bernabeu against United, it is hard to believe he originally struggled to cope with his world-record transfer from Juve to Real in the summer of 2001. "I had a difficult start," he concedes, "maybe because of the fee [£46m] or maybe because of the expectation. But I'm at home now and I can honestly say this is the best team I've ever played in." United may see that confirmed in Wednesday's second leg.

Real may boast such luminaries as Roberto Carlos, Figo, Raul and Ronaldo, but let's face it, ZZ is top.

The A to Z of ZZ: Zinedine Zidane

Born: 23 June 1972 in Marseille.

Family: wife Veronique, three children.

Career: Cannes (1987-92), Bordeaux (1992-96), Juventus (1996-2001), Real Madrid (2001, £46m transfer).

Team titles: Juventus (1996: European Super Cup, European/South American Cup. 1997: Serie A runners-up, League Super Cup. 1998: Champions' League). Real Madrid (2002: Champions' League). France (1998: World champions. 2000: European champions).

Individual awards: 1998: Golden Ball. 2000: Fifa Player of the Year.

Also: Voted France's most important living figure in 2002.