An ode to the outrageous Gianfranco Zola dribble that left Jamie Carragher begging Sky Sports for mercy
If you were to ask Jamie Carragher about Gianfranco Zola, the former Liverpool defender would likely be triggered into reliving a painful memory from 2003.
The Italian wizard, who was in the final year of his Chelsea stint, was brought on as a late substitute to help see out the game but it produced one of the most entertaining moments of skill from his career.
It was a moment that left Carragher with egg on his face and he even reached out to his employer, Sky Sports, to stop showing the famous clip a few years ago.
“Randomly on an international break, because there’s not much football, Sky’s social media department decided to just put this clip on and say, ‘Look at this, Zola twisting Carragher’,” the former Liverpool stalwart reminisced.
“I got on to Sky, I DM’d them and said, ‘I’m supposed to be one of your top pundits, you ridicule me.
“It’s not even on the anniversary. I don’t mind the anniversary, but I don’t want it in the middle of October when it happened in the middle of May.'”
While it was clearly a traumatic event for the 2005 Champions League winner, it seems their battles left him with a lasting impression of the diminutive winger.
When Zola sent Carragher to the floor pic.twitter.com/1zCKfP1FnO
— 90s Footballers (@90sPlayers) July 6, 2023
“I remember just watching Zola and I just couldn’t believe how good he was.
“The size of him – how small he was but how stocky he was, how strong he was. The way he used to control the ball – I feel like when we talk about foreign players, he was one of those ones at the beginning that we’ll always remember.”
The moment in question saw Zola pick up the ball in his typical wide left position as Carragher went out to close him down.
Firstly, he fell over trying to tackle Zola. The Italian saw this and just quickly moved the ball away before coming back on himself, as Carragher swung his legs behind him in a desperate attempt to get the ball.
Former Liverpool player Bruno Cheyrou swung a leg out and Carragher then dived in with another slide tackle attempt, only to fall on the floor again as Zola cut inside Danny Murphy, leaving Carragher on the floor in despair, stuck watching on.
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Described by Peter Schmeichel as ‘unplayable’, Zola earned the respect of many a Premier League great, with Sir Alex Ferguson also praising him highly.
He claimed that Zola was ‘a fantastic player’ and that he ‘loved watching him’ but he annoyed him because he seemed to enjoy playing against his unstoppable Man United sides.
Whereas later on Chelsea boasted another brilliant winger in Eden Hazard, Zola captured the hearts of Chelsea fans a decade earlier and remains a fan favourite.
His manager at the time of the Carragher incident, Claudio Ranieri summed up the former Napoli, Parma and Chelsea forward in the most perfect way:
“Gianfranco tries everything because he is a wizard and the wizard must try.”