Zidane’s snub for champs
REAL MADRID will NOT give La Liga champions Barcelona a guard of honour when the sides meet in El Clasico tonight according to coach Zinedine Zidane.
Barca wrapped up the title last weekend and face European champions Real at the Nou Camp this evening.
But Zidane says his side will not give Ernesto Valverde’s side the traditional greeting for champions.
“After the Club World Cup they didn’t want to do it for us,” Zidane said.
“They might have said they didn’t do it because they weren’t in the competition, but that’s not true – you’ve got to win the Champions League to play in it and we’re both in the Champions League.
“It’s not up to me to decide about the guard of honour but they didn’t do it. We, with respect, won’t do it for them because they didn’t.
“We respect what Barca have done in winning the league, which for me is the most difficult thing you can do.
“But these things happen – if they’d have given us one, we wouldn’t break the tradition of doing so.”
The incident Zidane was referring to happened before the Clasico in December when, having returned from the United Arab Emirates as Club World Cup winners, Barcelona elected not to give Real a guard of honour as is traditional in Spain. Barca won the match 3-0. Real – third in the table – secured their place in this month’s Champions League Final on Tuesday and are aiming to win the trophy for the third year in a row. SPECIAL GUEST: Keita could be at Kiev final Nov 2017: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 Jan 2017: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 Sep 2016: Chelsea 1 Liverpool 2 May 2016: Liverpool 1 Chelsea 1 Oct 2015: Chelsea 1 Liverpool 3
Chelsea – 61 wins Liverpool – 76 wins Draws – 40