Zinedine Zidane: Real Madrid Legend Discloses How Florentino Perez Made Him Wear Number 5

• Zinedine Zidane spent five years at Real Madrid, having joined from Juventus in 2001
• He wore the number 5 jersey, which was strange for a central midfielder
• The French legend has opened up on how President Florentino Perez made him wear it

Zinedine Zidane made the number 5 shirt famous at Real Madrid even though it was strange for a central midfielder to wear that number. He has now disclosed why he chose the number.

Zidane spent five years at the Spanish capital club, having joined from Italian giants Juventus in 2001. He retired at the club after deciding to hang up his boots after the 2006 World Cup.

As a player, he won all trophies at the club before returning to win it all again as a manager, including three consecutive UEFA Champions League titles between 2016 and 2018.

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Why Zidane wore 5 at Madrid

Zidane wore the number 21 during his time at Juventus but was conditioned to choose the number 5 at Madrid, a number worn mainly by defenders and last worn by Manolo Sanchis at the club.

Chatting with Lionel Messi on Adidas Football, he disclosed how President Florentino Perez made him choose the number.

"Florentino Perez, the president, didn't like the players wearing the numbers 25, 30, 35. He was from the old school. The number 1 for the goalkeeper and then up to number 11," Zidane said.

"Sanchis had number 5 for Madrid, he left, and when I got there, the president told me 'Wouldn't you like to have a number from 1 to 10?' and we picked the number 5 because he didn't want the 25, 30, 35, this is not football, it is American football, so in the end, I got number 5.

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"For me, the number 5 is now strong because of its history in Madrid, and now I don't remember much about my number 21 in Juve."

Per Planet Football, seven players have donned the number after Zidane retired in 2006, including 2006 Ballon d'Or winner Fabio Cannavaro. It is currently occupied by English midfielder, Jude Bellingham.

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Materazzi details 2006 incident

Sports Brief reported that Marco Materazzi explained the 2006 World Cup incident with Zidane at the final in Berlin, Germany, which Italy won 5-3 on penalties.

Materazzi claimed he did trash-talk with Zidane: the French midfielder offered him his jersey for a terrific performance but he said he wanted his sister instead.