Real Madrid and France legend Zinedine Zidane’s legacy appears in good hands, son Luca excelling in goal during the Hamdan bin Mohammed Fifth International Under-18s Football Championship.

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It appears inappropriate to see the offspring of one of football’s most-beautifully-honed attacking talents in between the sticks.

But the 16-year-old – one of four brothers at Real – provided an excellent last line of defence during Los Blancos’ 2-1 final defeat to AC Milan last night, keeping the scoreline respectable during a first-half barrage and claiming the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award.

“The goalkeeper worked very well against AC Milan,” assistant coach Joaquin Sanchez Alvarez said. “I see a good future for him.”

Luca is a regular in the Juvenil B set-up, a few rungs down from the struggling Castilla team coached by his World Cup-winning father.

Despite his youth, he was pictured training with their first team this month and has tasted international football after receiving a France U-17s call-up last month. This pedigree was on show throughout an often one-sided clash at Dubai Police Officers Club. 

Zidane doesn’t provide the most imposing physical presence, standing just under 6ft tall and being a number of inches shorter than opposite number Alessandro Livieri.

But Zidane used his natural agility and bravery to confidently collect a number of crosses fizzed in by Alessandro Ronchi as the champions overloaded the flanks.

His assured hands stretched to open play, never spilling a series of shots from Davide Calabria and Luca Vida.

He had no chance with the former and Davide Di Molfetta’s goals, the only concern coming when he rushed out recklessly to a bouncing ball and was beaten to it by the quicker Ronchi during the second half.

When you watch Zidane in action, the obvious reference point is current Real and Spain No1 Iker Casillas rather than his attacking midfielder father.

The club legend – a Galacticos team-mate of Zidane senior – made his first-team debut aged 18 and has never looked back. In Zidane, the Madrid giants seem to have a player honed in his image.