Real Madrid’s visit to Limerick will present sports fans with a unique opportunity!

Football fans often fail to understand how good the top players really are. TV doesn’t do them justice. On the telly it seems as if you or I could do almost as well. TV doesn’t give you a real idea of the brilliance required to cope at the very highest level.
From the armchair all seems possible and it’s impossible to comprehend what it’s like to oppose the finest players in the world, so success seems almost within your grasp. That’s why we laugh at errors and suggest that granny could do better. The thing is that the very best players in the world are not better than anything we can imagine, in fact they are better than anything we are capable of imagining.
When Real Madrid visit Limerick’s Thomond Park next summer every serious sports fan should make it his business to attend. We probably won’t be presented with a first-choice XI, but nevertheless it’s an opportunity to see some of the greatest players in the world grace the field. And, it’s a real eye-opener to see these guys play in the flesh.
On May 15th, 1996 Girondins de Bordeaux completed a 10-month 20-game European campaign with a 1-5 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup final.
Although that French side also featured Bixente Lizarazu and Christophe Dugarry the 24-year-old Zinedine Zidane (pictured below) was the undoubted star of the side.


To qualify for the 1995-1996 UEFA Cup Bordeaux won the Intertoto Cup in the summer of 1995 - that same summer Kenny Daglish, then manager of Blackburn Rovers, had expressed an interest in signing Zidane to which Jack Walker reportedly replied: “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?”
Anyway, I still class July 8th, 1995 as one of the highlights of my sporting life. That day, in the Intertoto Cup, Bordeaux faced Bohemians at Dalymount Park and won 2-0 with Zidane scoring an extraordinary goal in the 80th minute.
During his career Zidane played 108 European games and although I only saw him in the flesh, with a full head of hair, once I will cherish it forever. Any one who did not feel humble in his presence that day is no judge of a man.
And, even though Real Madrid cannot count anyone comparable to Zidane among their ranks right now the visit of Los Blancos will present Limerick men and women with the opportunity to take in something . . . well, who knows, but it could be something special!

Brian McDonnell