Zidane Remembers Jesus de Miguel as France Squad Announced
Zinedine Zidane walked into the press room to talk about tactics, form, and the Nations League. He ended up talking about death.
Before a single name on his latest France squad was discussed, the national team coach paused to remember Jesus de Miguel, the 30-year-old CD Tenerife forward who died after a horrific on‑field collision last week. The football world had already seen the images. Zidane had clearly not shaken them off.
De Miguel collided with FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono in the closing stages of their Segunda Division match on November 2. A routine ball, an ordinary duel, then chaos. The striker suffered a blunt cardiac injury and went into cardiac arrest. Medics resuscitated him on the pitch and rushed him to the University Hospital of Nuestra Senora de Candelaria in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
By the next morning, he was gone.
A preliminary autopsy confirmed accidental chest trauma as the cause of death. Spanish police and judicial authorities opened a routine investigation into the non-natural fatality, looking at potential involuntary manslaughter charges and the pitchside medical protocols that followed the collision. The legal process will take its course. The human shock is already here.
Zidane, who had joined Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez in honouring De Miguel ahead of the player’s funeral in his hometown of Navahermosa, struggled to hide how deeply it had hit him.
"I'm saddened by what happened, deeply affected. It even gives me goosebumps, because you never want to see something like that on a football pitch," he told reporters, his words cutting through the usual pre‑match routine.
"Above all, I feel sad for the family. I hope I never see anything like that again on a football pitch for the rest of my life."
For a moment, the Nations League, selection debates and tactical boards felt painfully small.
Mbappé Back at the Helm
Then, slowly, the conversation turned back to football. It had to.
Alongside his tribute, Zidane unveiled a 23-man squad for the November international window, France’s final camp of the calendar year and a decisive stretch in their Nations League campaign. At the top of the list: Kylian Mbappé.
The captain returns from an injury lay-off to resume his role as the team’s spearhead, a familiar figure expected to drag Les Bleus through a crucial double-header as they chase a place in the knockout stages. His presence instantly changes the mood around the camp. With him, France don’t just look strong. They look inevitable.
One new name, though, will draw almost as much attention as the armband. Pablo Pagis, rewarded for his sharp form at club level, has earned his first senior call-up. No fanfare from Zidane, no grand declarations, just a clear signal: perform, and the door opens.
For Pagis, it is the dream phone call. For the squad, it is a reminder that competition for places is real, even in a team already stacked with attacking talent.
France head into this window as group leaders, but the margin for error is thin. Two games remain, and with them the chance to lock in qualification and maintain momentum heading into a year that will demand even more from this generation.
Zidane will lean on his captain, trust his newcomers, and juggle the expectations that always surround Les Bleus. Yet his words at the start of the day lingered longer than any tactical explanation.
In a month that will define France’s path in the Nations League, it took the loss of a Spanish second-tier forward to remind everyone just how fragile this sport – and its heroes – really are.
