Brussels has long held a special place in Zinédine Zidane’s French story. When he returns to the King Baudouin Stadium as France coach for Monday’s Nations League meeting with Belgium, he will walk back into the ground where, on 28 June 2000, he turned a difficult European Championship semi-final into another defining night for Les Bleus.
The move
France face Belgium at 20:45 on Monday, with Zidane back at the stadium where France beat Portugal 2-1 after extra time in the Euro 2000 semi-finals.
That match came two years after Zidane’s double against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final, a 3-0 win which helped earn him the Ballon d’Or. Yet his performance against Portugal was regarded as a more complete individual display: a night when he controlled the rhythm, escaped pressure and increasingly carried France through the contest.
Portugal went ahead through Nuno Gomes in the 19th minute. France had been below their best before the interval despite eventually finishing with 18 attempts to Portugal’s five. Thierry Henry levelled in the 51st minute, arriving to meet a cross from Nicolas Anelka.
France were still in danger late on. Fabien Barthez made a crucial save from Abel Xavier’s header in the 90th minute, pushing the semi-final into extra time.
The French season around it
The decisive moment came in the 114th minute. Sylvain Wiltord’s delivery struck Abel Xavier’s arm, leading to a penalty after prolonged Portuguese protests. Igor Srmaka, an assistant referee who worked as a tax consultant in Bratislava, was credited as the first assistant referee to signal a penalty in such circumstances.
Youri Djorkaeff, France’s usual taker, had already been substituted. Zidane had converted all three of his shoot-out attempts for France but had not previously scored a penalty in open international competition, despite having won 58 caps.
He took responsibility. “As soon as I picked up the ball, I knew where I would place it,” Zidane said afterwards.
In the 117th minute, he converted the golden goal penalty to send France into the final. The moment carried an echo from his childhood: on his 12th birthday, 23 June 1984, Zidane had been at Marseille’s Vélodrome to watch Michel Platini score France’s 119th-minute winner against Portugal in another European Championship semi-final.
At 28, Zidane was no longer simply France’s most gifted player. He had become a more visible leader. Christophe Dugarry described a footballer playing with greater authority, stronger fitness than during the 1998 World Cup and the same technical fluency at a faster tempo.
“He was a magician who had become more of a leader through his football,” Dugarry said. “Everything was quicker, but he had lost none of his ease on the ball. His changes of direction were impossible to live with, especially when he stopped a dribble or produced a roulette.”
Zidane would later produce another celebrated France performance against Brazil in the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals in Frankfurt, a 1-0 victory. But for many who watched both, the 2000 semi-final remains the other great argument: the night in Brussels when France’s number 10 made the game belong to him.
