Zinedine Zidane refuses to publicly defend Real Madrid president Florentino Perez over Super League

Perez played a key role in the formation of the collapsed breakaway competition

Zinedine Zidane has said he has no need to publicly defend Real Madrid president Florentino Perez over his involvement in the collapsed Super League.

Perez played a key role in the formation of the breakaway project and received great criticism after the competition fell apart in a matter of days.

Real host Chelsea on Tuesday in the first leg of the teams’ Champions League semi-final tie, with the threat of expulsion from next term’s edition of the tournament still hanging over their heads.

Perez remains under scrutiny in his role, but Zidane insisted that the Real president knows exactly the support he has from his club manager.

“The president knows what I have in my heart and what I think, and we are here to prepare tomorrow’s match,” said Zidane.

“The rest is not that we are not interested, it’s just not the moment to talk about it. We are going to play a Champions League semi-final, and that’s all we can think about.”

England’s ‘big six’ clubs had signed up to the project, but Chelsea and Manchester City withdrew last week, two days after the competition was announced, and the edifice quickly crumbled.

Madrid have yet to admit defeat officially on the Super League, with Perez insisting that the project could be revived.

Asked if Real face any embarrassment over the lingering situation, Zidane replied: “We have a match tomorrow, I’m sorry but I’m not going to answer about that.

“Right now people are talking a lot about whether we will be in the competition next year or not. We have to pay attention to tomorrow’s match.

“We don’t control that, there’s going to be a lot of conversation, and I’m just giving my opinion. We want to see Real Madrid in the next Champions League, and that’s it.”

Former Chelsea talisman Eden Hazard is finally fit after the latest in a litany of debilitating injuries in his two seasons at Madrid.

And Zidane revealed the Belgium playmaker is finally unimpeded, just in time to take on his old club.

“He played 20 minutes the other day and he felt quite good,” said Zidane. “The most important thing is that he doesn’t feel anything about his problem.

“He’s quite well, he’s with us, he’s happy to be with us and contribute to the team a lot.”

PA