Tuesday 23 June 2015 17:21, UK
Zinedine Zidane says he would have accepted the chance to replace Carlo Ancelotti as Real Madrid head coach had he been offered the job.
Zidane was one of Ancelotti's assistants as well as the coach of Real Madrid's reserve side last season.
As a player, Zidane took Real to Champions League glory, scoring one of the competition's greatest goals, a spectacular volley in the 2002 final against Bayer Leverkusen, as well as to the La Liga title.
Real Madrid eventually opted for Rafael Benitez as Ancelotti's successor, but Zidane has now revealed he would have made the step up himself given the chance.
In an interview with France Football, to be published on Wednesday, Zidane said: "Yes, I would have accepted being Ancelotti's successor. I'm a professional and I'm never going to turn down a challenge."
But Zidane insisted he is not downhearted to have been overlooked for the job by club president Florentino Perez.
He added: "No, not at all. I'm not disappointed. I believe it wasn't the time.
"Things happen naturally, you don't have to go looking for them. He (Perez) took the decision to choose another coach and that's that."
Zidane has never been in charge of a senior team before and admits he is aware that being the top man is very different than being an assistant.
"There's no comparison between the head coach and assistant," he said. "The head coach is the one responsible. Everything passes through you, you take all the decisions.
"Of course you have the rest of the coaching staff, but you are the only one who decides things.
"To be a coach means to be alone. When you're the assistant coach, you can give advice and offer a different point of view, but you can't compare. The responsibility is always the head coach's."
