I tell players in Madrid not to headbutt: Zinedine Zidane

Despite seeing him mostly in football jerseys and Armani suits, it's still easy to spot Zinedine Zidane, who tried his best to look Indian by wearing a grey Nehru suit and greeted everyone with 'namastes' here on Friday.
You can take Zidane out of football but you can't take football out of Zidane.

In the city to promote Kanakia, a construction brand, the French legend and current Real Madrid coach, who recently guided Real Madrid to Champions League title, will soon return to what he loves most. With Euro 2016 being held in his country, Zidane, himself a European Championship winner in 2000, will be keeping an eye on Real Madrid's next 'Galactico' come the summer transfer window.

And it's a Frenchman who might catch his eye. "(Paul) Pogba belongs to Juventus at the moment. The fact that everyone wants him speaks about how good he is," Zidane, sticking to his French roots, chose to speak in his native language with translators by his side.

"The team is young and our players have been playing for some of Europe's top teams for a long time. This is one of the best French teams we've seen in years. They have the talent to go on and win the tournament. Being experienced and young at the same time is a great asset to have," said the 43-year-old who scored 31 goals in 108 games for France.

Zidane, who scored a brace against Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final that his country won (their first and only World Cup till date), knows how important it is for France to do well at Euro 2016.

"With the eyes of the world on the country right now, it is important at a time like this that France diverts all those talks of terrorism to the football field and host a great competition. It is important for the people of France that they are united and cheer their team. France have always done well when it has hosted a tournament.

"Hopefully, we'll be champions again. It is a bonus to be hosts. There is no additional pressure. The crowd will be our 12th player. They (the crowd) will do their part, no doubt about that. It's equally important for the team to do the same," said the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year.

Besides terrorism, racism is another stigma that haunts the country. Being of Algerian descent himself, Zidane called it a minority and said he has learnt from the headbutt incident that occurred in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.

"Racism is a minority and we have to fight against it. Yes, it does exist. I have mixed roots and have been provoked only once in my career. We all know how that ended. On the field, the only way to control yourself is to not reply or respond to any provocation. There will always be a player from the opposition who will try and make you do something rash that could see you get sent off.

"I am not proud about what happened in 2006. That was something that should not have happened. Things could have ended differently. I don't advise anyone to do that. It's part of life to make mistakes and learn from them.

My way of imparting what I have learnt is telling the players back in Madrid not to do what I did," said Zidane, who was sent off for headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi.

It won't be just France that Zidane will be keeping a close eye on. With Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo hoping to achieve European glory on the international front, Zidane hoped the Portuguese has a tournament to remember.

"He has won everything to win at the club level. You can see it by the way he trains that he is never satisfied. He was the last to take the penalty against Atletico. He did what he had to. That is now out of the way. His focus shifts to his country. The way he pushes himself in the gym is hard to find amongst others. He dreams of winning something with the national team for that has eluded him," Zidane said.

With his side beating city rivals Atletico Madrid in the penalty shootout, Zidane became the seventh person to win the Champions League both as a player and as a manager. The former French midfielder left everyone in the room into splits when he used both hands to display his signature scissor kick goal against Bayer Leverkusen in 2002.

"I tried doing the same in television commercials so many times. I tried replicating it on the training ground and the ball used to always go somewhere else. I don't think I'll score such a goal ever again in my life. Winning it in 2014 as assistant manager under Carlo Ancelotti was wonderful. Having himself won the tournament as a player and manager, I remember him telling me that he hopes I do the same. It is a huge satisfaction to win it as manager. It is wonderful to win it as a player but another feeling to be the coach of the players and celebrate with your players," he said.

Having replaced Rafael Benitez in January 2016, Zidane turned the side's fortunes by taking his side all the way in the Champions League and a second-place finish in the league. Having spent five seasons at the club (2001-06), Zidane attributed his time spent as a player as to what clicked in five months.

"I used my experience as a player at the club to tell the players what needs to be done. Having been an assistant under Ancelotti did help me surely, but what made much more of an impact was the fact that I was a player for the club. Having won trophies for the club made sure that the players respected me from day one. Getting the players together, giving them direction was crucial. I'm glad we ended the season with the Champions League," said Zidane, who added that the Real Madrid top post keeps him too busy to focus on other football happening across the world.

"My job keeps me too busy to know about the Indian Super League. I am only focused on one thing now and that is Real Madrid. Even when we're not playing, we're training, watching videos of either ourselves or the opposition. It's difficult to keep track of other things when you're playing thrice a week," he said.