Zinedine Zidane has written an open letter fans to Real Madrid fans and hit out at the club for having 'no faith' in him.
Just a few days ago, Real confirmed that Zidane was bringing an end his second spell as manager at the Bernabeu, after a season without silverware.
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The Frenchman left in 2018, after a two and a half year spell that saw him lift three Champions League titles in-a-row. He returned in 2019 to win La Liga in 2020 but couldn't defend the title this season.
Now Zizou has left again and has hit out the club, and president Florentino Perez, revealing that his decision to leave now was completely different to three years ago.
"Dear Real Madrid fans," the former Los Blancos midfielder wrote in an open letter, "For more than 20 years, from the first day I arrived in Madrid and wore the white shirt, you've shown me your love. I've always felt that there was something special between us.
"I've had the enormous honour of being a player and the coach of the greatest club ever, but above all I'm just another Madrid fan. For all these reasons I wanted to write this letter, to say goodbye to you and explain my decision to leave the coaching job.
"I'm going, but I'm not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching. In May 2018 I left because after two and a half years, with so many victories and so many trophies, I felt the team needed a new approach to stay at the very highest level.
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"Right now, things are different. I'm leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
"I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don't win, you have to leave. But with this a very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players, with the 150 people who work with and around the team.
"I'm a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the sensation these things have not been taken into account, that there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked for it.
"I want there to be respect for what we have achieved together. I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president over the past few months to have been a little different to that of other coaches.
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"I wasn't asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more recollection. These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more.
"For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured.
"That's why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I would be sacked if I didn't win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings.
"Luckily I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When things turned ugly they saved me with magnificent victories. Because they believed in me and knew I believed in them."
With Zidane leaving, Mauricio Pochettino and Antonio Conte have both been linked with the managerial job in the Spanish capital.
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Conte left Inter, after leading them to their first Serie A title in 11 years, whilst Pochettino is reportedly unhappy at PSG and has even considered a return to Tottenham Hotspur.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Florentino Perez, Football, Zinedine Zidane, Champions League, Real Madrid, La Liga