Zizou Helped Me Train Harder

Real Madrid’s young canterano Javi García has revealed how a little conversation with Zinedine Zidane spurred him on to work harder and fight for his place in the team.

In an interview with Spanish sports daily As, Los Blancos’ young defensive midfielder Javi García spoke about his early days and the time he spent rising through the club’s youth ranks.

From playing alongside future stars like De la Red, Mata, Negredo and Granero in Real Madrid Castilla to sharing the dressing room with Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, the versatile 21 year old defensive player has had an eventful career so far.

And he has revealed how he lived through the tumultuous Galácticos era and survived intact, becoming one of the very few players from the reserve team to successfully earn a spot in the senior squad.

“My time in the first team during that period was very brief. But I remembered that Raúl was giving me advice every day and (then-coach) García Remón also spoke to me and motivated me a lot,” he divulged.

He then went on to tell a story to illustrate how the superstars of that era were just like normal, everyday people, despite their god-like status.

“One day during training, I arrived early at the Valdebebas and Zidane was the only one there."

“I kept my distance because I did not want to bother him. But he called me over and showed me photos of when he was still at Bordeaux, just a young lad like myself."

“He joked with me and told me stories about his youth and from that day onwards, I started training harder than ever,” he recounted.

But the player that Javi García really wants to emulate on the pitch is Madrid’s legendary libero, Pirri.

“I would love nothing more than to be play like him. It’s true that I want to follow his style of play."

“I have seen videos of him and he was explosive. What potency… what personality… what way to approach the goal coming from the back,” he gushed.

The now 63 year old Pirri was part of Madrid’s post-quintuplet European Cup winning side known as the Ye-ye team. He made 417 appearance for the club between 1964 and 1980 and tallied an impressive 123 goals despite playing as a defensive midfielder.