Zidane: “We can’t be happy about this loss, but we can be proud of the season as a whole”

With Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad, they have been eliminated from this year’s Champions League and this means that their 2019/20 campaign is over. As such, Zinedine Zidane’s post-match press conference was his final one of the season.

As he discussed the loss to Manchester City, he reflected on the season as a whole as well. He said: “We can’t be happy because we lost a match and we lost a tie, but we can be proud of the season as a whole. It was a very good season. I’m very proud of what the players did. When you give everything on the pitch, that’s important. Today, the opposition had their chances and they scored. That’s football. We have to accept it. We had our chances to score, but we lacked something. Especially in the second half, when we were better. We’re not going to look for excuses, because there aren’t any. We just need to accept this.”

Looking ahead to next season, Zidane was asked to confirm if he would be staying on for the 2020/21 season. While he wouldn’t commit to that 100 percent, he didn’t give any indication that he was planning to leave. He said: “I’m here and I’m the coach of Real Madrid until something happens. I’m here.”

Zidane was also asked if he’d like to make any signings in the summer market, but wasn’t in the mood to think about that at this time. “We’ll see. Right now, we need to have a break.”

Finally, the coach insisted that Eden Hazard doesn’t have any physical issue, despite a lacklustre performance on his return to England. On the Belgian, Zidane said: “He is fine and he played his match. Physically, he is fine. He has no injury niggles or anything.”