'France's legend' Zinedine Zidane's son made his debut for the Algeria national team.
Algeria beat Sudan 3-0 in the first match of Group E of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on the 25th (Korea time) at the Moulay El Hassan Stadium in Rabat, Morocco. Riyad Mahrez scored multiple goals, and 20-year-old prospect Ibrahim Mazraoui scored his first senior international goal.
Another protagonist of the match was Luka Zidane, who guarded Algeria's goal. Luka Zidane started in place of Alexandre Oukidja, who was sidelined with an injury, and calmly dealt with several dangerous situations to complete a clean sheet. His father, Zinedine Zidane, attended the match and watched his son's performance in person. Each time his father's image appeared on the scoreboard, the crowd cheered.
Algeria seized the initiative just 2 minutes after kickoff. Hisham Boudaoui's pass from the flank was calmly finished by Mahrez for the opening goal. Sudan responded with counterattacks, but Luka Zidane kept the goal by saving consecutive shots from Yasser Awad.
Sudan found itself a man down toward the end of the first half. Salah Adil received a second booking for a rough foul just before the start of the second half and was sent off. After that, the match completely tilted in Algeria's favor.
In the 16th minute of the second half, Mahrez sealed the result by turning Mohammed Amoura's clever cross into a goal. Then in the 40th minute of the second half, Baghdad Bounedjah headed and Mazraoui finished to record his first senior international goal.
After the match, Mahrez said, "Above all, it's important to start the first match with a win. Our starts in the last two tournaments were not good," expressing his satisfaction.
With this win, Algeria rose to the top of the group and showed the qualities of a title contender. With Luka Zidane's steady debut added, Algeria's early momentum in this tournament gained further impetus.
Luka Zidane is the second of Zinedine Zidane's four sons. Born in France, Luka began playing football in Real Madrid's youth teams. He debuted for Real Madrid's B team in 2016 and joined Real Madrid's senior team in 2017.
But after appearing only twice for Real over four years, Luka moved through Racing Santander and Rayo Vallecano and has been playing for Granada since 2024.
Luka consistently played for France's youth national teams. However, in 2025 he obtained his father's permission and made his senior national team debut for Algeria.
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