Left Real Madrid because I feel club no longer has faith in me, admits Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane spent two years in his second spell with Real Madrid
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In an open letter, Zinedine Zidane has confessed that he did not leave Real Madrid because he was tired of coaching or jumping to a new challenge but because the club lost faith in him. The Frenchman left the club earlier this month after spending two years with the Los Blancos in his second spell.
Despite Real Madrid finishing a season trophyless for the first time in more than a decade, few expected the Los Blancos and Zinedine Zidane to part ways. However, that is exactly what happened with the club’s statement confirming that the Frenchman needed a break for coaching. This was Zidane’s second spell at the Santiago Bernabeu with him replacing Santiago Solari in 2019 and leading the club to the 2019/20 La Liga title.
However, their struggles in the Champions League during in both years had many believing that it was why Zidane left. But in an open letter, which has been published by Spanish outlet AS, Zidane revealed that he didn’t leave because he was tired of coaching or because he had another offer but because the club lost faith in him. He also added that everything he ever did for the club has been forgotten with the club not treating the people in and around him correctly.
"Dear Real Madrid fans, for more than 20 years, from the first day I arrived in Madrid and wore the white shirt, you’ve shown me your love. I wanted to write this letter, to say goodbye to you and explain my decision to leave the coaching job,” Zidane said in an open letter to AS.
"I’m going, but I’m not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching. In May 2018 I left because after two and a half years, with so many victories and so many trophies, I felt the team needed a new approach to stay at the very highest level. Right now, things are different. I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
"I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don’t win, you have to leave. But with this a very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players, with the 150 people who work with and around the team.
"I’m a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the sensation these things have not been taken into account, that there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked for it,” he added.
