Rayan Cherki says France win is ‘for Zinédine Zidane’

Rayan Cherki says France win is ‘for Zinédine Zidane’ Rayan Cherki says that France’s win over Turkiye (1-0) in the UEFA Nations League was “for” Zinédine Zidane, who sat in the dugout as manager of Les Bleus for the first time on Friday night. Zidane’s debut as manager was highly anticipated. The former mercurial midfielder had been out of work since leaving his role at Real Madrid back in 2021. He was holding out for Didier Deschamps’ job, which he had held for 14 years before relinquishing it following the conclusion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. On his debut, Les Bleus secured a slender 1-0 win away to Turkiye. Kylian Mbappé scored the only goal of the game, but was injured in the process. Speaking in a post-match mixed zone interview, Manchester City playmaker Cherki spoke about how it was playing under the iconic figure of Zidane. “It is pure pleasure. We know his past as a player, his past as a manager. We really wanted to start this adventure with a win. It is good to take it. This victory is for him,” he told reporters. “We have only had three sessions [with Zidane] but straight away you feel the instructions that he is trying to instil in us. Having the ball, moving it around… today, the quality that went into that, even we were a bit surprised. Everything is new to him, as it is for us, too.” France continue their Nations League campaign with two games against Belgium and a game against Italy. GFFN | Luke Entwistle