Zidane: The artist

As his former clubs Real Madrid and Juventus meet again, we focus on the finesse of Zinedine Zidane.

"When I see the career he had, the way he used to play and enjoy it - it's just like art. "But then I see Messi and Ronaldo play, and you can't do more than that. Zidane... maybe you think he could have been a top scorer, because he could. He was just so good. That's where I think maybe he could have tried more." It's not often you hear Zinedine Zidane criticised - and even the above is couched in terms of glowing admiration. Louis Saha was selecting his #One2Eleven line-up on Fantasy FC on Friday and chose his former France team-mate in a midfield trio with Paul Scholes and Patrick Vieira. Saha was a member of the same Les Bleus squad as Zidane for Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006, and holds him in the highest regard - but not, it seems, in the very highest. When pushed by Paul Merson, he actually admitted he preferred to line up alongside his former Manchester United colleague. "It's easier to play with Scholesy," said Saha. "You make a run, he'll give it to you. Maybe Zidane is a bit more difficult to read. He can dribble and do skills when you're not expecting it. Scholesy won't do that." So if Scholes - always the footballers' footballer - remains the ever-reliable 'sat-nav', it seems Zidane would have to represent a more elaborate form of cartography. Indeed, it's possible to lose yourself in the intricacy, the detail, the sheer beauty of the Frenchman's craft; watching video highlights of his technique and balance conjures similar feelings to those experienced on a trip to one of the world's great galleries. The 2006 documentary Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait took that idea of the footballer as art form to the next level. Zidane was presented as Real Madrid's principal performer, a star soloist in a talented company of galacticos. It was the ultimate playercam; captured by multiple lenses placed around the Bernabeu for a La Liga clash with Villarreal, all his character traits were in evidence. The viewer sees the swagger and the sweat; a burst of acceleration here, a languid trudge back there. And of course, there are many moments of elegant creativity as Real fight back from a goal down to win 2-1, the highlight being Zidane dribbling to the goal-line before floating over a superb cross for Ronaldo to equalise. Also, fittingly, the ending demonstrates those shadows of temperament that lurked beneath his serious surface - a late contretemps with Quique Alvarez results in both players getting sent off. Exit stage right, a precursor to his infamous career swansong - that night in Berlin when Marco Materazzi's sly dig at his sister provoked a headbutt to the chest. That mercurial moment in itself has since been immortalised in art too, provoking controversy as recently as last week. An Algerian sculptor called Abel Abdessemed created a 16 feet high bronze statue called Coup de Tete in 2012 and it was initially erected outside the Pompidou Centre in Paris. The Qatari Museum Authority then purchased the sculpture and placed it on the Corniche waterfront promenade in Doha, but after religious conservatives criticised the perceived 'idolatry' of the work, it will now be housed inside the Arab Museum of Modern Art. Zidane, now Real's sporting director and an assistant coach, would likely have raised one of his wry smiles when informed of these developments. The headbutt provided us with an iconic