Zinedine Zidane plays down talk of taking over as Real Madrid manager

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says that Real Madrid would be making a mistake if they sacked Rafael Benitez just 12 games into the new La Liga season.

Real’s thrashing prompted angry fans to chant for construction magnate Perez to step down but he has not heeded their calls and said he expects the world’s richest club by income to return to winning ways soon.

Throw in his petulant rows with club owners, clashes with high profile stars Gerrard, John Terry, Robbie Keane and his ongoing battles with Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and you have a pattern that suggests this over-inflated ego is incapable of handling high profile characters that dare to threaten his authority.

In the local media, there is already widespread talk about Benitez’s replacement – Zinedine Zidane.

Heading into the match, the belief was that it could well be Ronaldo’s final El Clasico at the Bernabeu, and the defeat has done nothing to weaken that notion given the breaking relationship between player and manager.

“I am coach of Castilla and Benitez of the first team”.

He is taking a break from football following his successful reign at Real Madrid, which saw him win the Champions League for a third time after two triumphs with AC Milan.

Zidane, who made more than 150 appearances over a five-year spell as a player with Real, has been in charge of Castilla since June 2014. Things are fine at the moment.

Things could also be getting worse for Perez before they get any better week, as he’s due in court on Wednesday the 25th to answer a formal complaint from a group of fans who are not happy that he changed the statutes of the club back in 2012.

“We analyzed the situation and I’m here to announce that Real Madrid’s coach has our full and unequivocal support”, Perez said.

“I stayed to train the Castilla. At the end of last season I felt that I was still lacking something to take charge of the first team”.

“When I won the PFA Player of the Year award at Spurs, I never thought at the start of the season that I wanted to win that trophy”. “We wanted to attack, press and win possession high up the pitch but things didn’t go to plan”.