Zinedine Zidane in his first interview as France manager:
“It’s a continuation of Deschamps’ work, my friend. I saw the direction he was taking over the past two tournaments, and he told me, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore, and you’re the only one who can help the national team.’
He wanted to leave before the World Cup, but I told him I couldn’t take over at that point because he was the one who had qualified France for the World Cup, and he deserved to finish what he started. I didn’t want to take away his glory if France eventually won the World Cup, because I genuinely believed we had the squad to become world champions. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
During the 4–5 years I was away from management, I received several offers to take charge of clubs, but I turned them all down,including Barcelona, Liverpool, and even the England national team because managing the French national team was the only job I wanted after my experience at Real Madrid.”