Makelele: Zidane trained with me to stop getting kicked
One advantage of being part of Real Madrid’s Galacticos squad was that opportunities to train with the world’s best were abundant, as Claude Makelele reveals.
In his three years with Real as a player, the anchor man not only scooped two LaLiga titles and a Champions League winners’ medal, but also helped develop some world-class teammates such as Zinedine Zidane.
“Sometimes I’d stay back after training with Zidane to practice one-on-ones,” Makelele told UEFA.com.
“I know why he wanted to do this, because he wanted to work on his qualities as a dribbler, his movement, because he’d spend every game getting kicked by his markers and he wanted to train like that too.”
In considering the playing ability of the current Blancos boss and star winger Cristiano Ronaldo, the Frenchman was reticent to state either were superior.
“You can’t compare the two! They play different positions – they had different leadership qualities,” added Makelele.
“[The best was] Ivan Helguera who played in midfield with me at Madrid.
“We had a great chemistry; we’d train together, we’d eat together.
He knew where I’d move on the pitch, I’d know when he was going to push up and try and score.”