ZIDANE COULD STILL START FOR EVERY TEAM NOT NAMED FC BARCELONA

Spare me the complaints stemming from this being against a team of retired, overweight, slow Bavarian legends. If Zinedine Zidane had not retired from footy after his 2006 renaissance performance in Germany, he would likely still be in the top 10 of the world's elite central midfielders. The touch, the vision, and the strength all seem to be there in abundance even now. The commentator during this game makes a solid point as to why Zizou called such a premature end to his glorious career. Essentially, he reasons that Zidane did not want what happened to Paul Scholes to happen to himself; he did not wish to play until he could only function as a bit player, a minor cog in a greater machine. Zidane was a player who single-handedly embodied and conducted the teams for which he played. He was France in 1998, in 2000 and again in 2006. He was Real Madrid when they last carried the European Cup. It simply wouldn't be right to see this maestro trot onto any pitch in the 70th-odd minute, looking to change a game with a brief cameo rather than being the one who set the pace of said game all along.

In all honesty though, right now, would he start at Manchester United, where the midfield currently consists of some combination of Carrick/Giggs/Fletcher/Anderson? The answer is undoubtedly yes. What about at Chelsea, where Essien, Lampard, and the distinctly average Obi-Mikel ply their trade? Again, one has to say that he just might find himself in the starting eleven.

What if he wished to return to Madrid? Would he displace Khedira, and somehow mesh with Mesut Özil to create the most diabolically creative midfield in global soccer?

Maybe I'm just dreaming, but at 38 he isn't THAT old, and he is Zinedine Zidane...