Real Madrid Castilla manager Zinedine Zidane said during an interview with France Football that he "would have accepted an offer to replace Ancelotti. I consider myself a professional and I wouldn't have passed up the challenge."
On the Italian's departure from the Bernabéu, the France legend said: "Of course I was sad when Carlo left because he did a good job here. But it's a big club and if you don't win anything one season... he said it himself: 'Without a major trophy, you run the risk of having to leave'."
Asked if he was frustrated at not being offered the big chair, Zidane said: "Genuinely, no. I'm not disappointed. They thought it was not the right time. Things happen in their own time, you don't have to go looking for them. It wasn't written that it would be like that... [Florentino Pérez] took the decision to choose another manager and that's it."
On the subject of being the manager or the assistant manager, Zidane noted: "It's not the same at all being the manager or the assistant. The manager is the one who shoulders the responsibility. Everything goes through him, you have to take all the decisions. Of course you have your technical team around you but the buck stops with you. Being the manager means being alone. When you're the assistant manager you can give advice and offer a different point of view, but you can't compare the two. The responsibility always lies with the manager."
Castilla:
"The objective is to prepare the players for the Liga, at Madrid or elsewhere. That's what the president and the director general told me. Getting promoted to the second division is important, but training the players is even more so."