The path for David Beckham‘s loan move to Milan was cleared when the Italian side loaned French midfielder Yoann Gourcuff to Bordeaux last summer, writes Ben Lyttleton. In his round-up of the weekend’s French action, he reports how Gourcuff “inspired his team to a 4-0 win over Paris St. Germain… put the French title race firmly back on, and, for good measure, scored the best goal of the season so far.”
Gourcuff admitted before the game that comparisons between himself and the last great playmaker to emerge from Bordeaux, Zinedine Zidane, were valid: “I come from a generation of players that were inspired by Zinedine Zidane and I can see why people notice aspects of my game, like how I control the ball, and make the connection. Of course you want to copy the very best, and he is the guy that invented some of these moves.”
Despite this warning, PSG defenders couldn’t stop Gourcuff when, after 70 minutes and with Bordeaux 2-0 up, he took a pass with his back to goal, pulled off “a Zidane-roulette to spin past Sylvain Armand,” flicked the ball wide of another defender and then scored. “I can’t really explain how I did it, I just tried to get free and didn’t hesitate to shoot,” said Gourcuff. “It was pure instinct.” And now, at last, there may be a team to raise a realistic championship challenge against Olympique Lyon, the French title-winner for the past seven seasons.