Zinedine Zidane Insists He Is Not Phased By Speculation Around Real Madrid Future

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane insists he is not phased by the speculation surrounding his future ahead of the season's first Clasico.

Real lost 1-0 to Cadiz in their last La Liga outing before suffering a 3-2 defeat to a second string Shakhtar Donetsk side in the Champions League four days later.

Such is the volatile nature of the Real job, this has led to speculation that Zidane - who has led the club to three Champions League triumphs and two La Liga titles - could be in the firing line should his side succumb to defeat against rivals Barcelona on Saturday.

Although the Real boss admitted he was in a slightly precarious position, he insisted he was accustomed to being under this kind of pressure at the club.

"That's what they say [that my job is under threat] - I won't deny it," Zidane said [via Marca]. "What changes? Last year the same, in the first spell the same...what I have to do is my job, the rest is irrelevant."

Real found themselves 3-0 down at half time during their midweek Champions League encounter with Shakhtar - who were missing 13 first team players due to coronavirus.

However, Zidane insists the result and performance is in the past, and sees Saturday's Clasico as the ideal opportunity to right the wrongs of Wednesday evening.

"In football there are ups and downs and you have to accept that," the Frenchman added. "We want to now focus on a different game tomorrow and forget about what happened the other day. We have the chance to turn things around and it's a good and special match to do so.

"There might be bad moments, but in the end the good thing about football is that you can turn things around and that's what we're going to try to do, put in a good performance and think positively."