“Zizou?” - Chelsea star Mykhailo Mudryk compares Arsenal star to Zinedine Zidane after Gunners’ win over Sevilla
Chelsea attacker Mykhailo Mudryk recently compared Ukraine teammate and Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko to Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane.
The Blues winger left a flattering comment on Zinchenko's Instagram post following the Gunners' 2-0 win against Sevilla in a midweek Champions League match (November 8).
Mikel Arteta started Japan international Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back, who was then replaced during the break by the Ukrainian following a minor injury.
Appearing in the second half, Zinchenko managed 44 touches of the ball, a passing accuracy of 81%, and a shot on target. Following the Gunners' victory, the former Manchester City left-back shared an image of himself volleying the football on Instagram.
He captioned it:
"@championsleague nights are always special."
Mudryk and Arsenal defender are seemingly close friends and often speak about each other in public. Recently, Zinchenko jokingly claimed to have told the attacker not to score during the London derby clash between their clubs on October 21 (2-2). The pair have shared the pitch nine times for Ukraine without managing a joint goal contribution.
Reacting to the above image, Mudryk compared his national team colleague to the legendary former France international and wrote:
"Zizou?"
Since hanging his boots back in 2006, Zidane has continued his jouney in football as a manager. As a player, he appeared 108 times for France, bagging 31 goals from midfield and won the World Cup in 1998.
With Real Madrid, Zidane completed 227 appearances across all competitions, scoring 49 goals and assisting 68. He won the La Liga and Champions League trophies once each, among other honors with the Spanish giants.
Chelsea star claims goal against Arsenal was no accident
Chelsea attacker Mykhailo Mudryk claimed that he meant to chip Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya when he scored from an incredible angle in the 2-2 draw on October 21.
The Blues took the lead through a Cole Palmer penalty in the first half. Mudryk seemingly attempted a cross from the edge of the box down the left flank which caught Raya off his life and ended up in the back of the net during the 48th minute.
Claiming that it was not a miss-hit cross, the Ukrainian said after the match (via We Ain't Got No History):
"It was something in the middle, between a cross and a shot. Before the game, our goalkeeper coach told me to look at their keeper because sometimes he is trying to read things and he can just lose the goal, so I can chip him. So it was something I knew and I kept it in my head. I went for something between the cross and the shot and it was a good decision."
Although Mudryk's strike gave Chelsea a 2-0 lead, the Gunners fought back in the final fifteen minutes to level the tie. Declan Rice (77') and Leandro Trossard (84') scored the goals for Arsenal that night.