Shadowing Practice: When Zinedine Zidane Walked Like a King and Played Like a Poet - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Best player you've played against?
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Best player you've played against?
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Zinedine Zidane.
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Zidane.
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Zidane.
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Zizou.
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Zidane!
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Who are capable of doing something like that.
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Genius.
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Zinedine Zidane wasn't just a footballer.
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He was an experience.
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Here's what the greatest minds in football say about him.
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Zidane is like he has been touched by the angels in his bed when he was a kid,
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you know, and everything he does is successful.
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He came to do things that many people expected to do,
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but that he didn't do.
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Zidane, I was in love with Zidane.
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I was blessed.
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I faced him in nationality in France,
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he was a headache all the time.
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He was beautiful to watch,
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as I said, poetry, emotions,
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someone who just looks so elegant as a footballer, like a ballerina.
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The first time that I met Zinedine Zidane was really a pleasure to see him.
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He showed fantastic skill, fantastic ability.
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This is who we play together here in Real Madrid for one time.
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It's magic, no?
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A god artist.
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Artist.
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He was just off the scale in terms of ability and not the way it's almost like it's just on a string.
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The ball is on a string when he plays.
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It's always within a certain area,
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a certain distance of him.
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When he runs it's almost like it's part of his body.
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It was just.. and if you pass him the ball and he wanted to turn on a certain angle,
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he could just manipulate a ball and do it all in one movement just amazingly well.
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Strong, quick off the mark.
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You tried to get near him and his arm would come out.
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He'd push you away and burst out.
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He was 10 yards away from you.
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He was really, really good.
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Top, you know, top class.
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My best memory, I played a long pass to him from possibly 50 yards.
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And the pass was good,
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but then he just volleyed the ball with his left foot straight into the goal.
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I remember looking at the people in the stadium and going like that.
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Every time he was coming close to him, the ball was gone.
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I couldn't get the ball off him.
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He was massive.
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He was physically strong, obviously technically good, mentality good.
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It was the biggest surprise I've ever had on a football pitch.
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I actually wasn't even on the football pitch, lining up.
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We were lining up to go against him against Juventus.
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And I just stood next to him, he was just massive.
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I just thought, you'd see him on the telly and you just thought he wasn't that big.
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He wasn't an over-physical player,
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but he just used his body in the right way.
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He couldn't get the ball off him.
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When I was playing first time against Cezo in midfield,
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he got the ball, he made a movement before and then the ball was literally like two meters there,
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his body there.
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I was here, there was no chance to take away the ball actually.
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I don't think I've played against anybody like Zidane,
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like you say, who gets their body between you and the ball as perfectly.
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And the timing of it and then the motion,
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the way you played, it was like it's impossible almost to find the ball
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and see the ball because he was a big guy at all.
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Honestly, people still to this day don't really know how big he was.
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When I played against him,
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I'm quite a small guy.
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I'm 5'10".
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I'm really sly.
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People might think, maybe I look bigger on the pitch.
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The advice I would get from my friends in Ireland would be,
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the technical advice they would give me is, just kick him.
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He's 6'2".
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You can deal with that.
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I remember the mind, he said to me once,
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the first game I played against him,
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he said, he's past it,
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he's too old now, get against him, run off him.
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I mean I thought right well I'm gonna outrun you.
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He beat me in a race
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And then I'm gonna I'm just gonna get against him tackling it just elbowed me out the way
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and then they got the ball It was just like a genius Zidane is like Paris without the effort out.
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You know when he when he retired I remember I said to
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You weren't that good guys
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And they get opened it all like we've all did on you are nobody
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because that over the class like is he can twist He has like some flexible and touch,
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what a player.
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Anyway, he's running the show and it gets to a point where it's like,
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come on, we've got to put something about him.
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Me and Stevie kind of give each other a little nod, let's smash him.
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Ed Scott, he's got the ball in the middle of the park.
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I've come in from one side to try and smash him.
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He's done this mad little turn, I've missed him.
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And then Stevie's come in to do it and hasn't Stevie's job,
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he's skipped over him.
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So me and Steve are kind of bow on the floor looking at each other and he's still got the ball.
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And it's just like, oh this fella!
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Honestly, it was incredible.
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I loved him anyway, but I loved him even more.
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What a player.
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I've played against him a lot of times.
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It's very difficult to play against someone you can't get the ball off.
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You never know where it is and to have played with somebody like that would have been great.
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He's won the World Cup, he's won everything.
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He's played in that unbelievable Madrid team, unbelievable Juventus team.
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If I had to choose somebody, it would be him.
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You know, I don't know,
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in France we don't have a more word for him,
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because we said everything.
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For me, he's one of the best players in the world.
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He's a genius, he's a magician,
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he plays for the team,
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he plays simple, and the vision, it was amazing.
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He's not just one of the greatest players that I've ever played with,
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one of the hardest trainers and also just caught, you know, without trying.
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You play him a ball anywhere on the pitch,
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any height, any level, any speed,
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he'd bring it down like it was just one of those things that he does.
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People literally used to turn up at the Bernabeu to watch him just control the ball.
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It's like watching a ballerina.
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Just the way he plays is so elegant.
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Everything about him is elegant.
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He's got a different aura, hasn't he?
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Yeah.
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He ain't even talking a lot either,
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he doesn't say much, does he?
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He's just like almost like,
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can I talk to him?
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And that's when you know he's so special,
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ZZU, because he walks into a room and without even seeing him come in,
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you know someone's walked in.
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He's not the most vocal person, but he's smart.
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He's smart.
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He's making everybody's a better player.
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I was amazed by his quality,
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by his vision, by his technical ability,
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football understanding, and for us to play just behind him,
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it was easy to play with him.
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The quality of the ball,
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he feels like it's not a good ball,
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but he will look good because of the way that he will touch the ball.
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He is the greatest.
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And when he was about to score that goal,
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I was on the pitch already.
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And I was behind him on the center line.
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And I was seeing Roberto Carlos sprinting on the left and getting the ball to Zidane.
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And the moment Zidane was preparing to shoot like this,
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which is you know already,
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you want to upload a goal like this?
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On the pitch?
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It's not possible.
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But in my mind I was like, this is unbelievable.
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He came out of retirement to help France qualify for this World Cup.
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That game everybody mentioned 2006 against Brazil.
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The first touch when he received the ball,
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I think he was back to their goal.
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So he put his soul on the ball and then the guys tried to close on him.
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And then he turned it and he stopped doing those things like you're like,
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you know, this is the beginning of the game,
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you're looking for challenge and everything.
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Everything is like he wants to take your confidence away from you and the very very high pressure
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It's like they reveal them said he done in the big game you're on about new euros
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He's on the big club matches eternal
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the day before his last game at the burn about
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and We was in the changing room downstairs And it was only me
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and him and he come up to me and sat next to me
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and he said I just want to say thank you
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and it was it was an honor to play with you for three years and I was like
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for him to say that to me was was one of the biggest moments in my life
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and in my career For me,
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he is one of the biggest ones in history.
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I always looked at him,
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he always looked at him.
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He was a different player, elegant, art, magic, everything.
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Even like geniuses like him, they are very disciplined.
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Very, very disciplined.
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The only thing I can see then,
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not only was he a great player,
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but he was a great man.
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I think not only France and our team,
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but the world of football will miss him.
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I can't believe people are comparing him to Bellingham.
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Watch this video if you think Bellingham is nowhere near Zidane's level.

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About This Lesson

In this lesson, you will practice your English listening and speaking skills through a captivating discussion about the legendary football player Zinedine Zidane. By immersing yourself in this engaging content, you'll enhance your vocabulary, learn to describe complex emotions, and develop your ability to articulate your thoughts more clearly. This lesson will help you learn English with YouTube by using Zidane's artistry on the football pitch as a backdrop for linguistic exploration.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • Experience - The state of having gone through something that impacts one's emotions or understanding.
  • Genius - A person with exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.
  • Elegance - The quality of being graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.
  • Poetry - A beautiful form of expression that can evoke deep feelings.
  • Manipulate - To skillfully handle or control something, such as a ball in this context.
  • Volley - A term used in sports where a ball is struck before it touches the ground.
  • Top class - Being of the highest standard or quality.
  • Pass - To move the ball from one player to another in football.

Practice Tips

To make the most of this lesson, consider using the shadowing technique. This method involves listening to the audio from the video and repeating it immediately after hearing it. Given the expressive tone of the speakers discussing Zidane, you will want to pay attention to the emotions they convey. Start by listening to short segments and repeating them aloud to mimic their intonation and rhythm. This can help you develop a more natural speaking style while also enhancing your vocabulary.

Since the video may have varied speeds, feel free to use a shadowing app to control playback speed as you practice. Begin with slower segments and gradually increase the speed as you become more comfortable. This gradual progression will help reinforce your learning without feeling overwhelmed. Utilizing platforms like Shadowspeak can also facilitate this practice, allowing you to focus on both pronunciation and comprehension.

As you engage with this content, remember that the ultimate goal is to express yourself with the same elegance and skill that Zidane displayed on the field. By incorporating these techniques into your routine, you will not only improve your English but also gain a deeper appreciation for the beauty of the language.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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