Zinedine Zidane feeling 'immense emotion' ahead of first match as France boss

[p]The 54-year-old, who succeeded Didier Deschamps following ‌his predecessor's 14-year reign, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/france-QkGeVG1n/turkey-7s-QeijuHo5/?mid=W6SKXPIE"]begins his tenure with an away fixture in Kocaeli[/a], less ‌than two months after his appointment.[/p][p]"Maybe even more, actually," [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zidane-zinedine/b7zuQEqO/"]Zidane[/a] ‌said when asked whether his emotions matched those he experienced winning his ‌first [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/QkGeVG1n/"]France[/a] cap 32 years ago.[/p][p]"[b]It was a long time ‌ago, and today I feel an immense emotion at being here in charge of this France team,[/b]" he told a press conference.[/p][embed guid="3447b67d-5f39-4f85-aabf-1be6d0188bcb" url="https://x.com/equipedefrance/status/2103129625522213273" social-type="twitter" /][p]Zidane's appointment has generated ‌considerable excitement in France, where his first week ⁠in charge dominated media coverage, ‌and in Turkey, where one journalist even asked him for an autograph ​during the press conference.[/p][p]The former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a] manager, however, sought to keep the attention on his squad.[/p][p]"[b]It's the next ​step after Didier's 14 years, it's something new so it's completely normal. But the main protagonists are the players[/b]," he said.[/p][p]"[b]I ⁠think you just have ​to accept the way things are done; I'm not looking for that and I'm not here for that. I'm going to try to do the job with my players, to make sure we can ‌win matches – that's what interests me[/b]."[/p][p]Midfielder [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rabiot-adrien/l08EAP2Q/"]Adrien Rabiot[/a] said Zidane tried to "step back as much as possible to let the players express themselves".[/p][p]"He is with us the way he is on the outside," Rabiot added.[/p][p]"[b]We're fully aware of how important he's been for French football. His aura means he takes up a lot of space and people expect a lot from him[/b]."[/p][image alt="Turkey - France win probability" id="cce77f5a-0d96-4416-97d1-42c4f6c84eef" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="alt, credit" guid="eb3a8c41-5261-4cb5-b3a9-74acd80fdbfd" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Rabiot, named as one of the team's captains along with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mbappe-kylian/Wn6E2SED/"]Kylian Mbappe[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dembele-ousmane/zsMC2Ec0/"]Ousmane Dembele[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kounde-jules/v36QVRPu/"]Jules ‌Kounde[/a], noted that "quite a few things have changed" since Zidane replaced ​Deschamps.[/p][p]"Some players already, different ways of doing things and also ‌different training sessions," the 2022 World Cup runner-up said.[/p][p]"[b]What the coach wants is obviously a fairly attacking style of play[/b].[/p][p]"[b]We'll be very closely watched for how we play because the coach is new and a lot is expected from him[/b]," Rabiot ⁠added.[/p][p]France face another away match ⁠against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/belgium/GbB957na/"]Belgium[/a] on Monday before ‌Zidane's first home game, against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/hlKvieGH/"]Italy[/a] next Friday.[/p][infobox id="5a8fbd57-e97c-4bdc-9f6b-fb0fb254e893" /]