[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 771273, member: 273”]Xavi and Zidane were definitely from interviews done with those individuals, there is no way they are false. I would say they are all true in some way or other, some of them may have been just guys being nice, but Xavier in particular was very enthusiastic when talking of Scholes. Professional and generally high level footballer or sportsmen don’t always have the same parameters for greatness or respect as many of the tv watching public would have.
In fairness, Xavi and Zidane are enough got me, compared to a few of the greatest idiots ever to open a laptop I’ll take their word for it every time.[/quote]
I don’t think the Zidane quotes are real. gola has linked to an interview with Zidane below where half the quote has come from - the bit about “the complete footballer” but in that interview Zidane said that Scholes was “an extremely tough opponent” and it was from 2010. The quote with “Scholes of Manchester” as his toughest opponent was on the web in 2008 and already called out as being fake at that time.
Most of this is irrelevant in assessing the player but it’s interesting to see how social media and images with quotes plastered across them become accepted as fact. There were a load of tweets last night showing Mancini on the Tube after the FA Cup Final. The picture was from months ago. The quote from Guardiola on the picture Gola posted was attributed to Zidane in 2008.
Even the links Gola has provided aren’t perfect. The Xavi and Lippi quotes are genuine but the Fox Sports Asia website references a candid Daily Mail interview as the source - the actual interview was with the Guardian, it was posted here before.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A45381521
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/11/xavi-barcelona-spain-interview