The French midfield maestro played his last game for Real Madrid in May 2006…
One of the greatest footballers to have ever graced the game, Zinedine Zidane played his last match in club football on May 7, 2006, for Real Madrid against Villarreal in a La Liga clash.
The match ended in a 3-3 draw with Julio Baptista scoring a brace and Zidane scoring once for the Los Merengues. Madrid finished second on the points table in that season, 12 points behind arch-rivals and champions FC Barcelona.
The French legend finished as the second-highest goalscorer for Real Madrid in that season with nine goals in 28 matches behind Brazilian Ronaldo who scored 14 goals.
Here, we take a look at the teammates who played alongside Zidane in his final match in club football and where are they now?
Getty Images1Iker Casillas – GK
The second most-capped Real Madrid player (725) after Raul Gonzalez and former club captain, Iker Casillas left the Spanish giants in 2016 and joined FC Porto. He is one of the greatest and most decorated footballers of all time in Real Madrid's history.
The World Cup-winning Spanish captain retired from professional football in August 2020 and returned to Real Madrid in December as a deputy to the general director of the Real Madrid Foundation.
AdvertisementGetty Images2Michel Salgado – RB
Salgado joined Real Madrid in 1999 and played for 10 years at the club. He later moved to Blackburn Rovers where he ended his professional career in 2012.
In 2016, Salgado came out of retirement to play in India's Premier Futsal Tournament. He represented Kerala-based franchise Kochi 5s as their marquee player.
Salgado served as an assistant coach in the Egyptian national team from 2018 to 2019 under head coach Javier Aguirre. In 2019, he joined the Galicia national team as their head coach alongside former Spanish international Francisco Gonzalez.
Getty Images3Sergio Ramos – CB
Sergio Ramos served Real Madrid for 15 years since 2005 and left the club at the end of the 2020/21 season. After Iker Casillas' departure from the club, Ramos became the club captain in 2015. He is the club's fourth most-capped player of all time with 671 appearances under his belt.
After ending his association with the La Liga giants, Ramos moved to PSG in 2021.
Getty Images4Alvaro Mejia – CB
A Real Madrid youth product, Alvaro Meija made his senior professional debut for the club in 2003 and spent four seasons at the club. After leaving the La Liga giants, he played for Murcia, Almeria and Qatar Super League side Al-Shahaniya. He played in Qatar for six seasons from 2014-2020. In the 2019-20 season, Al-Shahaniya got relegated from the top division after which he left the club.