DONETSK: Once tagged the ‘new Zinedine Zidane’, Samir Nasri scored the decisive penalty that qualified France for 2012 European Championship. Versatile, light on his feet and technically gifted, he was a key contributor to Manchester City ending their 44-year wait for the English top-flight title in 2012. Like Zidane, Nasri was born in Marseille of Algerian ancestry and joined his home-town club in 2000 and made his Ligue 1 debut on September 12, 2004 in a 2-0 defeat at FC Sochaux-Montbeliard. He won the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award in 2006-07 and, after playing for various France youth teams and scoring the winner against Spain to clinch the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in 2004, he received his first senior call-up while still in his teens. Nasri scored his first senior international goal on his third appearance — a crucial winner in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia — but played just 28 minutes at the finals in Austria and Switzerland. After four seasons with Marseille, Nasri moved to English side Arsenal in 2008 and scored on his Premier League debut against West Bromwich Albion. He was overlooked by coach Raymond Domenech for the 2010 FIFA World Cup but was restored by Laurent Blanc for the start of 2012 European Championship qualifying. At club level, Nasri contributed a career-best 10 league goals in the 2010-11 season. He became the fourth player to leave Arsenal for Manchester City since 2009 — the others being Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure — when he signed for the Citizens in August, 2011 for a fee reportedly in the region of 27 million euros. — Agencies