When Zinédine Zidane retired, he said he'd never be a manager and it wasn't in his plans. But after two years out, he missed football a lot. I think he retired a little bit early, he could have gone on for at least another season, and it would have been a pleasure for us to have him.

Michel Salgado

Categorized in : Thinking Football Pleasure

When we found out Blackburn's owners wanted us to do a chicken advert for Venky's, we didn't really know what to think. I had to pretend to love it, but the truth is, one bite and my stomach was in knots.

truth-is football thinking

I can tell some names that played with me at Real Madrid and there's so many legends, everything is there. You know Roberto Carlos, Fernando Hierro, Raul, Zizou, Figo, Makelele, Ronaldo - the big one! - and Cristiano Ronaldo afterwards...pick any of those guys and you'd have an incredible team.

team guy real

I follow F1, of course. For us, in Spain, Fernando Alonso has been the real turning point. It's not easy for a driver to win two world championships and it was unbelievable for Spain to have someone that could do that for us. Since that time, I've been following him and supporting him.

real winning world

I think the difference between Real Madrid and Barcelona against the rest of the league is always getting bigger. It's going to be a league of two and I'm not sure if Atletico Madrid are really going to be there, what they've done is amazing - reaching the Champions League final twice and winning the league - but I think they're starting to fall behind. For Zizou, winning La Liga is the real challenge.

real winning fall

When you retire, you start to try different things and you choose the one you enjoy the most. As a player, it's difficult to know if you'll be a good manager or not because you might think you can't deal with the dressing room or won't enjoy the game from the sidelines. There's also punditry and careers on TV, so football gives you many different options.

player football thinking

I love F1, the cars and the speed. I love the race in Monaco for example, because there's such a special atmosphere on the streets and also, the race is very technical. I'm a big racing fan in general, so I'd love to try the cars.

atmosphere car racing

I always have a very good feeling with Arsenal. The objective always is to win the title but the big difference and them and Man United or Man City is they spend a lot of money for the big players, but when I see the names on paper for Arsenal...the squad is fantastic.

player winning men

Shkodran Mustafi is a great choice, he's a great defender with lots of experience. He played with the German national team so we know his quality.

quality team choices