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MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 10: Head coach Zinedine Zidane (L) walks along his players Raphael Varane (L) and Mateo Kovacic (R) a training session ahead of their UEFA Champions LEague quarter final second leg match against Juventus at Valdebebas training ground on April 10, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)
Como ambassador Raphael Varane says that his former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has been the most influential person across his career, and has revealed what Zizou told him to do during training sessions as a youngster.
Varane spoke in-depth in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday, 18 months after he retired at Como.
- Read more: Varane breaks silence 18 months after shock Como retirement: ‘Difficult journey’
The four-time Champions League winner had joined Cesc Fabregas’s side on a free transfer following the end of his Manchester United tenure in the summer of 2024, but picked up a serious injury to his knee just 23 minutes into his first competitive appearance with the club in the first round of the Coppa Italia that same summer.
Varane was then left off Como’s Serie A squad list for the 2024-25 campaign and ultimately announced his retirement, less than two months after he had originally joined the club.
Despite retiring at the age of 31, Varane decided to stay on with Como and is currently serving as an ambassador, sits on the club’s development board and has a hands-on role overseeing the management of the youth sector.
What Zidane told Varane at Real Madrid
During his own teenage years, Varane left his boyhood club Lens in order to join Real Madrid, where he would go on to play under the likes of Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Zidane.
“When I moved to Real Madrid from Lens, everything was bigger, newer, different. More than anything, the perception of time is different. You don’t play for a month and it feels like a year,” Varane told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“You have to stay focused, stay on track, be resilient and train in the same way that you play.”
Varane also revealed which individual had the biggest impact on his career: “Zidane,” he said.
“He advised me to focus on one specific thing during each session. A long ball, a different touch, a new move. A small thing, not lots of things, not everything. Add things and improve day by day.”
Click here to read the full interview with Varane
ByPeter Young
Peter Young is a Senior Reporter with Football Italia.
