Zinedine Zidane came out of the coronavirus enraged. While he was at home, convalescing and isolated, Real Madrid beat Alavés (1-4) and lost against Levante (1-2), so they fell a little further behind the leader: 10 points already and with a party more than Atlético. That defeat was the final 17-day stumble in which the team was left without the Spanish Super Cup – against Athletic in the semifinal -, without the Copa del Rey – against Alcoyano, from Segunda B, in the second round – and very away from the League, although Zidane said yesterday that he still did not rule it out: “There are 54 points left.” However, while he was out of focus, criticism of the team and his work have intensified, and what has generally been allowed to run with a “I can’t control the outside”, this Friday he faced the shock: “I’m not going leave. If people want me to quit … No, ”he said.
The combustion even had some melee with journalists: “You say many things and you have to assume them. Tell me to my face ‘we want to change you’, not only from behind, “he challenged in one of the replicas of his appearance prior to Madrid’s visit this Saturday to the bottom, Huesca (16.15, Movistar LaLiga). The concentration of the running of the bulls had also had some effect on the intensity of his reaction, as he explained at the end: “I’m not happy to be asked if I’m out every time we play a bad game. I don’t think I deserve this treatment from the press. I’m a bit angry, because I’ve also been locked up for two weeks, in a cage, and I want to go out and say that I’m going to fight until the end. “
He meant that and he meant to be allowed to go to the end in his own way, that he had earned it. “Let us fight. Last year we won the League. Not 10 years ago. Last year. Just a little respect to all of this, ”he said. “We deserve to finish with the players that are.”
The journey to the end, the four months of long journey with the uncertain opportunity of the Champions League, he will travel with those who have been so grateful for what they have made him win. Without much more margin, since the winter market saw two other footballers emigrate from the next batch. For Odegaard he also had a small message: “He wanted to go out, he wanted to play. We have talked about it two or three times. I told him to stay, that you had to fight, fight, have peace of mind. Because this is long and we needed it, and because it is a request of mine. It has not been like that and in the end it is everyone’s decision ”.
Few variations in course, although he underlined the current shortage of troops exacerbated by injuries: “We are 15 players. I hope they all return ”. Among those who will be missing, the recently injured Eden Hazard, whose third muscle injury of the season was detected on Wednesday. “One day we will see him play well, without injury,” said Zidane, who insisted on attributing his recurring misfortune to bad luck, although he also pointed to the need to find new solutions. The coach has given him a clue and cared for him while other footballers languished in the shadow of the long wait. “He has to accept it and change something to try to make the situation different,” he commented on the Belgian’s situation.
Although this Friday, in his post-coronavirus relief, everything always returned to his rebellion against the signal, to the vindication of what he had won in his own way and the margin that that gives him until the end of the course. So he did agree to anticipate changes, which can start with himself. “If there are things that do not work, you have to see them with the first person in charge. It is crystal clear. Next year things must be changed for sure. But this year leave us ”, he claimed.