Zinedine Zidane appeared at a press conference with the hangover still from the League conquered last Thursday, to discuss the current situation of Real Madrid, who faces this Sunday on the last day of the League against Leganés, in Butarque.
With the League won, are the games approached differently?:
It should not be so. There is one party left and everyone must be respected. Let's play to try to do well.
Have you raised something for next season? With what you have is worth?
Many things are missing: tomorrow's game, the Champions … There is still competition. We are not going to talk about next year without this year being over. Things are done little by little. Tomorrow we have a match and then there is the Champions League. Later we will see the next season.
You win a title every 19 games. Do you feel the ideal coach of Real Madrid, the real special one Real Madrid?
I don't feel any of that, I'm being lucky to be here with these players, in this club. So I enjoy day to day so much, because this is going to end some day, as it once happened.
Would you like Benzema to finish Pichichi?
Of course I would like for Karim. But that means nothing. I am not going to say who is going to play. I would have liked it, because he is a player who has done well and deserves to be Pichichi of the League. Tomorrow we will see how that will end.
Is there more merit in winning the League without Cristiano?
Every thing we get is credit to the team, the players who are in that moment. It should not be neglected. Especially this League, which has been very complicated, very difficult and we have fought it to the end. We must enjoy that we get it.
Make a note of yourself as a player and coach.
I am not going to put a note, you are there for that. I'm glad of both. I have been a player because it has been my first passion. Now it's only four or five years as a coach. I'm not going to put a note on myself, that doesn't help me at all.
He was said to be a finals coach. Did that bother you? After winning your second league, was that poster nailed a thorn?
I have no thorn of anything. I am enjoying what I am doing. There is much debate here about many things. But I enjoy my passion for playing soccer and now for training the best and being in the best club in the world. I enjoy these things, the rest do not enter evaluations.
The other time he left winning the Champions League in Kiev … No matter what happens, will you be Madrid's coach next season?
No one knows what is going to happen, so I am not talking about next year. I have a contract, I like being here, I enjoy what I do, but you never know what will happen in football. In soccer in general it changes from one day to the next. I don't know what's going to happen. I'm here, enjoying, and we'll see how long.
Thinking of the Champions League, with what have we seen of Madrid in these last matches, is it enough to eliminate City?
We know the complicated game we are going to have. The first leg was difficult and we will see on the return. We are going to fight until the last second of this match. Then what will happen is not known.
The team has had a way of playing without risk. Is this a formula for these ten games or the one that must be done to win a League in 38 days?
It is not ten games to win the League. In football you have to have a balance. We are having it more regularly lately. Not only on the defensive line. Soccer is a matter of everyone defending when we don't have the ball and attacking when we don't have it. To win titles we always need the effort of all the players. I like balance better than talking about how we defend well. There are games that you give a lot, our first part of Granada, we played very well there; and another where it costs us a little more. Then there is a rival. I know there are many debates, but it is not a question of that. There is a rival and from time to time you cannot play as you want, because the rival gets you into trouble. That's the beauty of soccer.
His team is already champion. How do you motivate yourself for a match like tomorrow?
We have to get the motivation out because it is a League game again and when we put on the shirt we want to win every game. It is also a league game, it is not a friendly. We want to do well.
Suppose he shies away from the spotlight, the leading role. Why don't you stick your chest out, don't you claim it?
I am as I am. I am not going to stick out my chest, it is not my way of being. I enjoy.
Are these days off before the City game good for the team or would you prefer not to break the competition rhythm?
We are going to have some days, but we are not on vacation. We are going to rest a few days, because the final stretch of the League has been tremendous. But our head is in the City game, around the corner.
The title has not been decided in the last match. Were you surprised by the Barcelona slump?
Almost in the last game. Barcelona, if you watch all the games, they have only lost one. They won seven and two draws. We made a great end to the season, but we must not ignore what Barcelona has done because it is not.
Leganés is playing for permanence. How do you value the work of Javier Aguirre?
He is a very experienced coach. I value a lot. He has done a lot of things as a coach on many teams and has always handled them very well. This is what he is doing with Leganés. I have enormous respect for these people. Since I am a coach I look at others to get a little out of all these people, who have a lot.