Zidane: “Liverpool demand more of you physically”

Real Madrid have been drawn against Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-finals and Zinedine Zidane gave his first reflections on the match during his Friday press conference.

On the prospect of facing Liverpool, he said: “We know it’ll be difficult. At this level, all the teams are very good and it’ll be a very very very demanding game. We know this team. Physically, they’ll demand more of you. But, for now, that’s for after the international break. Right now we have tomorrow’s game and we’re only thinking about that.”

The Liverpool home leg might have to be held outside of Spain if the same coronavirus rules remain in place between England and Spain. Asked about that possibility, Zidane said: “We’ll play where we’re told. We’d prefer to play in the Estadio Di Stéfano, but we’ll see what they say.”

Asked about the intense schedule that will come up after the international break, with a Clásico sandwiched in between the two legs of the Liverpool tie, Zidane said: “It’s the same every year. In April, you’re playing for everything. But, I don’t worry about that. It’s the day-to-day work that motivates us. We’re alive in two competitions and we want to give our all every day in order to do well in these competitions.”

Moving on to the Celta Vigo game in LaLiga Santander this weekend, the coach said: “We’re content right now, but we know we have another match tomorrow and we have to keep doing things well. We need to manage things well day to day. We’ve had time to recover since the last game and now we have another demanding game against a team who are playing football very well.”

Finally, the coach was asked about the rumours saying that he’ll take over France after this summer. His reply was curt, as he said: “I’m thinking about tomorrow’s game and nothing more. I won’t say anything about the rest.”