French media hails return of "saviour" Zidane

French newspapers hailed Real Madrid soccer star Zinedine Zidane as "The Saviour" on Thursday after his decision to come out of retirement to help France in their struggle to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Le Parisien devoted most of its first three pages to covering the comeback by the three-times World Player of the Year, and LCI television lauded his skills in a profile it repeated with its regular news updates.

"Zidane restores hope to an entire people," ran a headline in Le Parisien. The conservative daily Le Figaro wrote of "The incredible return of 'Zinedine Zorro'".

The left-leaning Liberation newspaper said Zidane could lift France. The team lies fourth behind Ireland, Switzerland and Israel in their World Cup qualifying group and faces a struggle to win a spot in next year's finals in Germany.

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The 1998 World Cup winner's announcement on Wednesday that he would play for his country again came as a surprise as he had said several times over the past few months that he would not change his mind after quitting international soccer a year ago.

The media's joy at his return was tinged with concern that the gifted number 10 may no longer command the strength and skill that made him one of soccer's greatest ever players.

"It is not at all certain that Zidane, slower and more physically fragile, is the appropriate man to save a country in peril," wrote Le Figaro.

Sports daily L'Equipe caught the mood of jubilation among ordinary fans, filling its front page with a picture of Zidane under the headline "He's coming back".

"The French team will compete with its best assets," it wrote. "Down for a year, it needed an electric shock. It has happened. Now it's just about playing football."