Sead Kolasinac has revealed that Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Carlos are two players who had a real influence over the way he plays football.
Kolasinac has hailed the two Real Madrid legends, Zidane and Roberto Carlos, as players he watched while growing up who have influenced his game.
“Roberto Carlos and Zinedine Zidane are the two that really stayed in my head,” Kolasinac told the Arsenal Magazine. “You don’t have to say much about those two, everyone knows them and as a child, they had a real influence on me.
“I remember I used to try to take free-kicks like the one Roberto Carlos scored against France [at Le Tournoi in 1997].
“But what I trained more often was that Zidane trick, which I practised a lot on the pitch. It’s the roulette – I did it against Leicester. We always practised it.
“I still talk often with my friends about our childhood. Looking back, as soon as school finished, we’d go to the local pitch and play until our mothers would drag us away late at night.”
The former Schalke defender’s admiration for Roberto Carlos makes slightly more sense since the Brazilian was a left-back. He made a whopping 370 league appearances for Los Blancos between 1996 – 2007. Considering Kolasinac was born in 1993, he would have been very young indeed when watching the legend in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ECoR__tJNQ
Roberto Carlos scored 47 goals during his time at Real – an impressive amount for a defender. However, he was never your run-of-the-mill defender, was he?
Zidane, meanwhile, was one of the best footballers to ever play. The Frenchman was with the La Liga giants for five years (2001 – 2005) and made 155 appearances, scoring 37 goals.
The 45-year-old is now manager of Real, where he ended his playing career.
Kolasinac is only 24 and has a long way to go before he can be compared to the likes of Carlos. However, it’s always good to aim high and interesting to hear what influences have driven the Bosnian Hulk up to this point in his career.