Zinedine Zidane insists he is not letting the pressure get to him as he prepares his Real Madrid side for today’s huge Champions League last-16 clash with Paris Saint-Germain at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“I’m very happy. We all live for these moments. I don’t feel any particular pressure,” a relaxed Zidane said at a press conference at Real’s Valdebebas training complex yesterday.
“We have prepared as we usually do. Certainly tomorrow (Wednesday) there will be a bit more pressure than usual, but I’m going to enjoy it. My future does not bother me much just now.”
Zidane has been going through the toughest period of his short managerial career, with Real fourth in La Liga, a huge 17 points behind leaders Barcelona, albeit with a game in hand.
That has led to speculation that the Frenchman’s future as coach is on the line against a feared PSG side, with the two-time defending European champions putting all their hopes in the Champions League going into the first leg of this tie.
“I am just trying to get on with my work. This is my passion,” said Zidane, who has won eight trophies as Real coach. “I have nothing that I need to demonstrate.” The tie is a special one for the Marseille-born Zidane, as he faces a French club for the first time since being appointed Real coach in January 2016. The second leg will be in Paris on March 6.
“Playing against PSG as someone from Marseille, there has always been a rivalry there, but I’m not going to think about that. I just want a beautiful game of football.”
Zidane got the full backing of Real’s Brazilian left-back Marcelo, who said the former World Cup winner has a great relationship with the stars in the Madrid dressing room.
“He is a person who is very close to us and who helped us so much when he arrived here,” said the 29-year-old. “He is a great coach who has done so much for this team and will keep on doing so to get things back to how they used to be.”
Marcelo will be coming up against his international team-mate Neymar, who he claimed ahead of the game in an interview with Brazilian television would “one day play for Real Madrid”.
“Madrid fans like good players, and Neymar is a world star. Any fan would like to have Neymar in their team,” he added yesterday. Real, though, are wary of the threats elsewhere in a PSG side also featuring the likes of Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe. “Of course Neymar is a great player who is on top of his game, but we are not only thinking about him.” Zidane inspired France to World Cup glory as a player, but his extraordinary career has to a large degree been defined by the Champions League.
His magnificent volleyed goal for Real Madrid in their 2002 win over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park in Glasgow is one of the greatest to be scored in a European Cup final.
As such, it is up there with his brace in France’s 1998 win over Brazil, his country’s Euro 2000 triumph and the infamous headbutt on Marco Materazzi during the 2006 World Cup final among the most memorable moments of his playing days. He has carried on his love affair with the Champions League as a coach, from his role as assistant to Carlo Ancelotti in Real’s 2014 triumph to leading Madrid to glory himself in the last two seasons.
But now Zidane’s future in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu is hanging by a thread, possibly tied to the outcome of the looming showdown with this formidable Paris Saint-Germain outfit. For 18 months after his appointment in January 2016, the Frenchman could do no wrong, but a little of the magic has deserted him recently.
“This is an unprecedented situation, but we must live with it, hold our course,” Zidane said in an interview with French radio station RTL aired on Monday. He has won eight trophies since replacing the unpopular Rafa Benitez in the Madrid dugout, including an unprecedented five in one calendar year in 2017. Zidane also oversaw the club’s first La Liga and European Cup double since 1958 as well as a record 40-match unbeaten run.
But now they stand fourth in La Liga, at risk of finishing off the podium in their domestic league for the first time since 2004. Finishing second behind Tottenham Hotspur in their Champions League group also exposed them to this tougher draw. The man born and raised in a tough neighbourhood of Marseille needs the tonic of a win over the Parisian aristocrats.
“We also must not dismiss everything we have done because of our form at the moment,” he told RTL, mindful that recent improved results in La Liga have not completely shaken away the doubts.
“This is not some other club — the slightest negative thing here and the media make a song and dance out of it.”
Zidane last month revealed that he had signed a new contract at the Bernabeu until 2020, and the respect with which he is held by those within the club, the supporters and the media means there has been no campaign calling for his head.
President Florentino Perez cannot make Zidane the scapegoat for the lowering of standards as he did with Benitez before. But, equally, Zidane is fully aware that coaches at the Bernabeu do not have long shelf-lives.
Since Vicente del Bosque was unceremoniously sacked in 2003, Real have appointed a new coach 13 times. The longest-serving in that time has been Jose Mourinho, who survived for three seasons. When asked last month if he felt able to turn things around, he replied: “If I thought I could not, I would leave tomorrow.”
But to RTL he added: “I like what I do. Not everyone can do this. I am making the most of it, I know it won’t last forever.”
Meanwhile PSG have omitted veteran midfielder Thiago Motta from their squad for the trip to Madrid yesterday.