Zinedine Zidane didn't hesitate when naming the two toughest opponents of his career

Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane has named the two players he found it hardest to play against during his illustrious career.

The 52-year-old is one of the greatest players to have ever graced the football pitch, winning everything there is to at club and international level, and was part of a number of incredible teams during his playing days.

Zidane's playing career spanned spells at Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid, winning league titles in both Italy and Spain, as well as the Champions League for the Santiago Bernabeu outfit.

The attacking midfielder also won the European Championships with France in 2000 and the World Cup in 1998, though his playing days ended on a sour note after being sent off in the 2006 World Cup final defeat against Italy for a notorious headbutt on Marco Materazzi.

After hanging up his boots, the 1998 Ballon d'Or winner coached Real Madrid's reserve team for 18 months, before becoming the boss of the first team at the start of 2016.

In two separate spells in charge of Real, Zidane won two La Liga titles and the Champions League on three occasions.

He has been frequently linked with a return to football with Bayern Munich and Man Utd both linked but has yet to make a comeback in the dugout at one of Europe's top club sides.

When Zidane played, the game was littered with defensive talent who have gone down as some of the greatest players of all-time.

And with that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that when Zidane named the two most difficult players he faced in his career, they were both standout central defenders from the 1990s and 2000s.

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One player was former French team-mate Lilian Thuram, whom Zidane won both the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship with.

And the other was Italy and AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini, who spent his entire career at the San Siro side in a playing career which spanned a remarkable 25 years.

Speaking last year with Lionel Messi in a video which went viral, via Give Me Sport, Zidane said: "The toughest player Well, not the toughest player, but the hardest one in the sense that he was very good.

"Not hard in the sense that he wanted to hit you, you know? But the hardest one was Paolo Maldini because he was very smart and intelligent on the field. Sometimes I was in front of him and well…

"And Thuram. He was tough. When he is on your team, you are happy. But if he is playing against you, you are not."