Didier Drogba reveals who is the African Zidane

The Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend opened up about an Egyptian legend who he rates as the ‘African Zidane’.

Didier Drogba has compared Al Ahly and Egypt legend Mohamed Aboutrika to Real Madrid icon Zinedine Zidane.

Aboutrika, a former attacking midfielder, is regarded as one of the best players in African and Egyptian football history. He won back-to-back AFCON titles with Egypt between 2006 and 2008. He also claimed the BBC African Footballer of the Year in 2008 and finished as runner-up in the CAF award that same year.

In a career that spanned 16 years, Aboutrika never played in Europe. The Egyptian starred almost exclusively in his homeland, spending the bulk of his playing days at Al Ahly. One couldn’t fault his success, though. He won 23 trophies with the Red Devils, including seven Egyptian Premier League titles and five CAF Champions League trophies.

The 43-year-old ticked most of the boxes as a midfielder in how he weaved past defenders, gave excellent deliveries, linked-up with his teammates, a superb free-kick ability, and of course his creativity.

What did Didier say?

“One player I would’ve loved to see in Europe and I believe he would’ve done fantastic in Europe is Aboutrika, he’s the African Zidane,” Drogba told former Marseille teammate and Egypt striker Mido on Mehwar TV.

“A lot of elegance, he reads the game and he’s a very smart player, there’s a few like this.

“He should’ve gone if he had a chance to go to a big team. Because to go to Europe, for a player like this it’s more simple to play in the best teams because everybody understands each other.”

Drogba added: “Players like Aboutrika I believe would’ve been a success.”