Zinédine Zidane hails ‘natural talent’ Michael Olise after latest France heroics
Zinédine Zidane knows a thing or two about creative brilliance. One of the most gifted playmakers of his generation, the France boss is not easily impressed – but even he has been taken aback by the quality of Bayern Munich's Michael Olise’s.
The Bayern Munich attacker has made an immediate impact under Zidane, registering a staggering four goals goal and two assists in the new head coach’s first four games in charge.
Olise set up Kylian Mbappé for the winner in a 1-0 UEFA Nations League victory over Türkiye before coming off the bench to score a spectacular late winner by the same scoreline away to Belgium at the start of the international break.
“He’s an absolute natural talent and simply loves playing football,” Zidane said after the Bayern winger’s heroics. “You can see that. He has a feel for the game. I’m delighted to be working with him.”
If those words were not evidence enough of Zidane’s admiration, his reaction to Olise’s winner in Brussels certainly was.
Introduced as a second-half substitute, the 24-year-old collected the ball around halfway, drove towards the Belgium defence and curled a superb finish into the bottom corner in the 88th minute.
Zidane promptly let his emotions take over. The usually composed Frenchman sprinted down the touchline in celebration before booting another ball lying near the technical area as hard as he could – an extraordinary reaction to an extraordinary goal.
Olise being Olise, he wasn't finished there. He sank a stunning strike into the top corner from a free-kick 20 yards out to give France the lead in a 1-1 draw against Italy before teeing up a Rayan Cherki goal and firing a tidy brace within three minutes as France beat Belgium 4-1 to end a magnificent international break.
"It's just exceptional what Michael does," said the France coach after his latest remarkable contribution.
For a player whose game is built around invention, technique and seeing possibilities others do not, praise from Zidane carries particular weight. And after one goal and one assist in just two games under the France legend, Olise’s star shows no sign of waning.
