For Zinédine Zidane, it’s the holidays. Well almost. If Real Madrid, with whom he was crowned Spanish champion this season, did not manage to qualify for the Final 8 of the Champions League in Lisbon, the French technician is involved in another project. This Wednesday, “Zizou” was at “Z5”, the Aix-en-Provence five-a-side football complex, which he owns, to launch the Zidane Five Club, a training academy for young players that he has set up. developed with Le Five and Foot Lab.
After taking time for promotional videos and training with children, Zidane gave the Parisian a few minutes to discuss the news and the qualification in the final of the Champions League of PSG. A performance that he considers logical and in part linked to the complicity on the ground between Neymar and Mbappé.
You have faced PSG in the Champions League pool twice this season (3-0, 2-2). How do you explain their presence in the final?
ZINEDINE ZIDANE. Simply by the team they have. It is homogeneous, it has been building something for several years now. Logically, by dint of believing and working, they arrive at this level today. I think it’s pretty well deserved, there is no such thing as luck in football. The Champions League is a competition which is very complicated, where you face the best European teams. When you get to the end … I attribute that to work.
What does the Neymar-Mbappé duo inspire in you?
What marks is the difference they manage to make on the pitch. You watch the game against Atalanta, it shows. At one point, you end up with a player who manages to achieve things apart, and that makes the difference. It was seen when Mbappé came back to school. Neymar was very good the whole game. We talked about his last gesture (Editor’s note: facing goal), but he was so ubiquitous during the meeting. And then, this duo is easy when they play together. They are two very, very good players who make staggering differences at times.
Given the final format, is this a Champions League apart that PSG could win?
She is a bit special compared to what happened with the confinement and to wonder if the competition would resume or not resume. But honestly, it’s a Champions League and it’s good to finish it.
Can Paris become the second French club to win the Champions League after OM in 1993?
We’ll see (laughs). Anything can happen in football. It is to be hoped for French football that one of the two clubs (Editor’s note: Lyon is playing its semi-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday night) still involved wins, we must wish them the best. Now I am not a diviner.
