Algeria: Riyad Mahrez positioned alongside Zidane, Messi... (Video)

Oct 2, 2026

During his appearance on the Kampo podcast, Maxence Caqueret paid significant tribute to Riyad Mahrez, echoing Smaïl Bouabdellah's opinion on the exceptional quality of the former captain of the Greens' first touch.

While participating in the Kampo podcast, Maxence Caqueret engaged in a fun exercise where he had to create his "ideal player" by selecting various characteristics from several football stars. The midfielder from Como notably chose Neymar for his right foot, Lionel Messi for his left foot, Andrés Iniesta for his vision of the game, and Sergio Ramos for his leadership. But when the conversation turned to the quality of control and first touch, one name quickly became obvious: Riyad Mahrez.

Smaïl Bouabdellah, the podcast host, then expressed a belief he has long supported. “I tell them that the player most gifted with the first touch is Mahrez. The only ones who can compete are Messi, Zidane, Bergkamp, and Ronaldinho. They mention Neymar to me. I respond: he controls and then accelerates,” he explained, thus establishing the former captain of the Greens as an undisputed reference in this area.

This opinion was immediately endorsed by Caqueret. “Mahrez, no, Mahrez… Moreover, I played against him”, the Frenchman replied, before recalling a match against Al-Ahli during the summer preparation. “And last year, he came there with Al-Ahli. And even at that moment… but in preparation! It was our first match for all of us. You come back from vacation, it was I don’t know how many degrees…”

Caqueret remains particularly impressed by Mahrez's technical mastery despite these conditions: “He was pulling off repeated controls. I was thinking: no, it’s… No honestly, there’s not even a debate.” A particularly strong tribute to one of the qualities that have solidified the Algerian's reputation throughout his career.

DZfoot