Zidane: “My New Year’s wish is for my players to not get injured”

Zinedine Zidane held his first press conference of 2021 on Friday and he started it off with a personal message before answering any questions. He said: “I want to wish everyone a happy New Year in 2021. We’re thinking about those who are having a difficult time and send them a hug. We hope 2021 will be better for everyone. We’ve also learned of the situation with Eusebio and we send support to him and his family and hope he can overcome this scare.”

Once questions started, the coach was asked if he has a New Year’s wish. He replied: “For my players to not get injured. That’s my wish. We’ll also try to work hard and win titles at the end of the season. I also hope that things can get better for all those going through a tough time.”

He was also asked about contracts and about the fact that Real Madrid players with expiring contract can now negotiate with other clubs and the fact that Los Blancos could start talking with players like David Alaba. On that, he said: “We all want the contract situations to be solved as soon as possible. It’s for the good of all. I’m only thinking about the players here. We already have a very complete squad. We’ve got enough to worry about with all the matches, so we’re not thinking about players that aren’t ours.”

Specifically, Luka Jović was brought up and Zidane was asked if he’d like to send the Serbian out on loan. He said: “Luka Jović is a Real Madrid player. It’s true he’s not played much, but the perspective can change in just one minute. It’s important that all players are ready.”

Finally, he discussed the challenges that Celta Vigo can pose in Saturday night’s game. He said: “We know that this is a team playing very well. From their last seven, they’ve won six games. They’re always a difficult team. They have a difference-maker in Iago Aspas, he’s a spectacular player. So, we’ll try to play well even though we know it’ll be difficult. It’s not an easy league and we know we’ll have to suffer to pick up points. We’ve just seen in our last game that there are no easy games.”