In an interview with AS, Robert Pires looked back on his successful playing career and discussed compatriots such as Zidane, Benzema and Camavinga
Speaking to AS, former France star Robert Pires looked back at his illustrious playing career and discussed the many fellow Frenchman who have either achieved big things at Real Madrid already, or are being tipped to star for Los Blancos in the future: Kylian Mbappé, Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema, Eduardo Camavinga…
I work as a pundit on Canal Plus France and for M6, which is another TV channel in my country. I’m also an ambassador for UEFA, Arsenal and LaLiga.
Because I was still hungry for more football - in fact, I still play, even if it’s just with my pals. I didn’t want to stop, despite having retired three years earlier when I left Aston Villa. I was 40, but I still felt like I had something left in my legs, albeit in league of a lower level like India’s. I had great fun, was over there with some top players, and my coach was the great Zico… From a financial point of view, it was also a very good opportunity; I won’t deny it.
No, none. It was a difficult situation.
I knew I was going to a league that was at a lower level, but I also knew that I wanted to enjoy myself and use all my experience to help bring on footballers there. It’s a country of many contrasts and we lived in a bit of a bubble.
It wasn’t an easy time for me, although of course I felt lucky to be able to choose between Real Madrid, Juventus and Arsenal. I was close, really close, to signing for Real Madrid, but [Arsenal manager Arsène] Wenger called me a number of times, chased me hard and finally persuaded me [to go to the Gunners].
Yeah. Particularly my mother, who’s Spanish. When I called her to say I was going to London, to Arsenal, she said. “You’re nuts! You don’t speak English, with the ability you have you should go to Spain [and play for Real Madrid]!” People said to me that you can’t say no to Madrid, but I did.
It’s difficult to say. I spent six years at Arsenal and I was very happy there. One of the very few negatives [from my time at the club] is that we lost the Champions League final against Barcelona in 2006.
A few. [Madrid president] Florentino Pérez told me that he was really impressed with the job he was doing with us at Arsenal. But, like me, he said no to Madrid… He preferred to carry on with the project he had at Arsenal.
I don’t think so. After having so much success over the course of 20 and a bit years at Arsenal, where he won almost everything, he retired two years ago and I guess he wouldn’t want to return to today’s game.
Why not? Many people in France, including journalists, called me to ask whether I’d lost my mind and to ask who exactly this Villarreal side were. If I’m honest, I didn’t know a lot about them beforehand, either; I didn’t know where they were on the map… But I never regretted the choice. We had fantastic players, a top coach in [Manuel] Pellegrini, a 10-out-of-10 president and a wonderful, committed fan base. I spent four years there and thoroughly enjoyed myself, because there wasn’t the same pressure that you might encounter at one of Europe’s big boys. Having turned down Real Madrid, joining Villarreal gave me the chance to play in LaLiga.
One from Benfica and another from [first club] Metz, who wanted to re-sign me at one point.
I think it’s incredible that people talk about a crisis and the end of an era when Real Madrid lose two games before the Clásico and then draw at the death against Borussia Mönchengladbach. I know there’s a lot of pressure at Madrid, but the coach and the players need to be given a calmer climate in which to do their job. Just because they’re Madrid or Barcelona, they can’t always beat everybody; if that were the case, football would be very boring.
The problem is that, like Real Madrid, it’s almost a sin to reject Barcelona. I don’t think Griezmann made a mistake by leaving Atlético, but since he arrived at Barça two years ago things haven’t gone well for him. They haven’t gone well for Barça in general, though.
I think that in the end he made the right decision. It’s hard to see him and Barcelona going their separate ways.
Of course. I’m French, I like Paris Saint-Germain and I’d like him to stay in Ligue 1, but if he wants to keep growing as a player, he should sign for Real Madrid.
He’s only 17, eh… My opinion is that he should stay at Rennes for another two years to keep on developing, and then go to a top club like Madrid or Barça, or whichever he chooses. It’s too early for him. If they can, Rennes should try to keep hold of him.
It’s a tricky issue, one that has created and continues to create a lot of debate in France. I’m not really interested in whatever happened between him and [Mathieu] Valbuena, but given all that he has achieved and is achieving at Real Madrid, of course he deserves a France call-up. He’s one of the best strikers in Europe. But [France boss Didier] Deschamps has the final say.
The ’98 team, without doubt. Everyone knows that. It doesn’t matter if they have Griezmann, Mbappé, [Olivier] Giroud… they wouldn’t be able to score even one past us!
[Michel] Platini, of course, and I also really liked MÃchel at Real Madrid. He had bags of class. He ran with the ball so elegantly and had such ability with ball at feet.
Buffff! There are so many: Zidane, Djorkaeff, Henry, Bergkamp, Riquelme… And one of the best I ever came up against was Ronaldinho.
Hopefully they keep going as long as possible and we can continue to enjoy watching them for a while yet. Successors? I don’t know if there are any. I enjoy watching the likes of Mbappé and Neymar, but there’s no-one like Messi and Cristiano. I don’t think we’re going to see anyone like them, at least not in the short-term future.
To be honest, I’ve never felt the calling of coaching and I don’t have the badges you need, either. But who knows if I might consider it at some point in the future. I like the idea of being a sporting director more.
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