Zinedine Zidane walked out on Real Madrid because the club and its president, Florentino Pérez, systematically undermined him, according to an extraordinary open letter the Frenchman addressed to supporters. “I am not abandoning ship and I am not tired of coaching,” Zidane wrote. They could even have been expressed by Zidane himself after his first spell, which ended four days after winning a third consecutive European Cup. “I know football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid, I know that when you don’t win you have to go,” Zidane wrote. I know perfectly well what the team needs.” Here the “unlike Pérez,” went without saying, but Zidane had said enough.

Source: The Irish Times May 31, 2021 10:18 UTC