Bixente Jean Michel Lizarazu (Basque pronunciation:[biˈʃenteliˈs̪araˌs̪u], born 9 December 1969) is a French former professionalfootballer who played as aleft-back.
He rose through the ranks atBordeaux, where he was part of a team that finished second in the French First Division in1989–1990, were administratively relegated to the Second Division at the end of the1990–1991 due to financial problems, and then won promotion from the Second Division in the1991–92 season. His Bordeaux team finished runners-up in the1995–96 UEFA Cup. As he is a native of theFrench Basque Country, he was able to joinAthletic Club in 1996, but did not nail down a starting spot during his one season at the club.
An enthusiast in several sports from a young age,[8][9] Lizarazu began his professional career withBordeaux, joining the club's youth setup as a 15-year-old in 1984 and initially playing as awinger.[8][9] After being told he would not make a career from football due to his frail physicality as a teenager,[9] he impressed the staff with his determination and became a member of the senior squad in 1988[8] alongside forwardChristophe Dugarry. He was retrained to play as a counter-attacking left-back at the suggestion of coachDidier Couécou[9] and soon replaced the veteranGernot Rohr (later to be the club's manager) in the position.[8]
In1990 Bordeaux finished runners-up in the French championship, but thefollowing year they were administratively relegated amid financial problems.[8][9] Lizarazu remained with the club and helped them immediately regain their top tier status in1992.[8] The club also signedZinedine Zidane, who became another important element of the team,[9] which went on to achieve two 4th- and a 7th-place finish over the next three seasons, Lizarazu contributing 101 appearances and 15 goals.[citation needed]
Lizarazu spent just one season with theLa Liga club after becoming the first Frenchman to play for Athletic,[8][13] which hasa policy of selecting only players ofBasque birth or heritage.[14]
Suffering from a persistentgroin injury,[9] he was unable to displace the experiencedAitor Larrazábal at left-back, received two red cards among the 16 league appearances he did make, and had disagreements with the head coach, compatriotLuis Fernández.[8] In the 1997 close season, he transferred to Bayern Munich.[9]
Before even playing aBundesliga match, Lizarazu lifted a trophy with his new club, winning the inaugural edition of the preseasonDFL-Ligapokal.[8] It was the start of a highly successful spell inBavaria,[15] despite the interruption of some serious injuries,[8] as he went on to win sixBundesliga championships (including three in a row between1999 and2001), as well as fiveDFB-Pokals, theChampions League in2001[8] (scoring his penalty in theshootout),[5] and theIntercontinental Cup.[15][8] On winning the Intercontinental Cup in 2001, he became the first player to be a current European and World champion in both club and international football.[citation needed]
Lizarazu said that he would leave Bayern in the summer of 2004 and eventually signed withMarseille.[8] However, after only six months back in France, he returned to Bayern Munich in January 2005.[8] During his second spell with Bayern, ending in 2006 when he gave way to the emergingPhilipp Lahm,[8] Lizarazu wore the shirt number 69; clarifying that it was not alewd gesture, he said this was because he was born in 1969, his height is 1.69 m and he weighed 69 kg.[16] He made 268 appearances in all competitions for Bayern between 1997 and 2006, scoring eight goals.[17] 183 of these games were in the German top-flight.[18]
Lizarazu was capped 97 times for France (for the first time on 14 November 1992 againstFinland),[19] scoring two goals, and helped them win the1998 FIFA World Cup andEuro 2000, starting in the final of both tournaments. He was also part of squad for France in the2002 FIFA World Cup, though France were eliminated from group stage in the tournament without scoring a single goal where he was involved all 3 matches in the group stage.[15] He retired from international football after France were surprisingly eliminated by eventual winnersGreece atEuro 2004.[8]
Regarded by pundits as one of the best left-backs of his generation, Lizarazu was an attacking full-back orwing-back, who was known for his passing, technique, pace, stamina, and his ability to get up the flank and provide accuratecrosses from the touch-line. In addition to his offensive prowess, he was also known for his defensive abilities, despite his diminutive stature, which, along with his speed, allowed him to track back.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
After retirement, Lizarazu got involved inBrazilian jiu-jitsu. He competed in a jiu-jitsu competition in Europe in 2009, where he became European champion in the Blue Belt Senior 1 Light Division.[28] He is also a keen surfer[9] and works as a football pundit for French television and radio.[29] In 2013, Lizarazu was described as a "tramp" by his successor as France's left-back,Patrice Evra, after he and other pundits criticised Evra for giving an impromptu team talk during half-time of a2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match againstBelarus.[30] Lizarazu has two children.[31] He is in a relationship with actressClaire Keim with whom he has a daughter.[31] Lizarazu was formerly engaged to singerElsa Lunghini from 1999 to 2006.[32] Lizarazu is a native speaker ofBasque and French. In addition, he also speaks Spanish, German and English.[citation needed]
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