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 one goal and one assist in the new head coach’s first two games in charge.
Olise set up Kylian Mbappé for the winner in a 1-0 UEFA Nations League victory over Türkiye on Friday before coming off the bench to score a spectacular late winner by the same scoreline against Belgium on Monday.
“He’s an absolute natural talent and simply loves playing football,” Zidane said after the Bayern winger’s latest 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’s strike was his eighth goal for France and secured a second successive victory for Zidane following his appointment as Didier Deschamps’ successor.
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.
