Dubai: They may have been Galactico stars of Real Madrid, but Luis Figo has revealed he didn’t think Zinedine Zidane had what it takes to become a manager — nor a successful one.

Both were main men in the Real Madrid side of the early noughties, hugely high-profile and successful signings, but Figo has confessed he never had any belief Zizou had the nous required to triumph on the touchline.

“No,” Figo replied when asked in Dubai yesterday whether he saw Zidane becoming a manager and a successful one as well. “Sometimes when you play you see the characteristics of a teammate that are more of a coach than the other ones, and I never saw him falling in this area.”

Zidane, has of course — so far — proved his critics wrong, winning the Champions League last year in his first season as manager and putting Real Madrid in a strong position to make history this year and become the first club to achieve successive triumphs since the revamp of the competition in 1992.

A La Liga crown, which would be Real’s first since 2011/12, remains a strong possibility.

Figo said he had been impressed by Zidane’s apparent ability to get the best out of players who, while they may have the quality to play for Real Madrid, are nowhere near the class of the three-time Fifa World Player of the Year and 1998 Ballon d’Or winner.

“He must know how to manage all the players and understand football and their experience,” Figo said.

The Portuguese added of the Frenchman: “The results are there, so I’m happy for him.”

“It looks like he likes [coaching] and he’s getting fantastic results, so great.”

And speaking at Dubai Sports City yesterday at the media launch of season three of The Victorious, the football talent-spotting show which airs on Dubai TV, fellow former Real Madrid teammate Michel Salgado echoed Figo’s opinion of Zidane’s managerial potential.

‘Retired too early’

“I totally agree,” said Salgado, who is a coach, judge and self-confessed ‘Godfather’ on the X-Factor style show which will run for 12 episodes from Monday, March 6.

“Neither did I,” the Dubai-based former Spanish international, who was at Real Madrid for a decade up until 2009, added. “To be honest, I remember he said to us ‘I will never be a coach’.”

Salgado believes one of the reasons Zidane — who played for Real from 2001 to 2006 after signing from Juventus for a then world record fee of around €75 million (Dh291.7 million) — changed his mind was because he retired from football at the age of 34 and missed it.

“That’s what happens with footballers when they get out of competition and retired,” insisted Salgado.

“You don’t know what is going to happen with your future, whether you’re going to like the grass roots or go into the media, into TV ... So, funnily [enough] I think that after [a few] years Zidane found the way to make it through management. I think he missed the competition. I think he retired too early to be honest.

“That for me was the reason he came back really quick to coach — he was missing the competition too much. I know that he is a really competitive guy.

“You maybe feel that he is shy — but he’s not shy. Maybe he’s shy to the people [outside of football] but when he trains or plays he is not shy. He is a competitive guy and he has a character in there.”

But whether Zidane and Figo’s fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo have enough to lead Real Madrid to consecutive Champions League triumphs is something the Portuguese is unsure about, however.

Betting on Real

“I think the statistics are there to beat, so you never know but right now Real Madrid could be in the quarter-finals because they had a good result at home [3-1 over Napoli in the last 16] so anything is possible,” said Figo,

One of the few men to have played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid — after his infamous then world record €60 million transfer between the two in 2000 — Figo laughed: “I think Real Madrid has a better chance than Barcelona because of the first-leg result!”

Barca may be down 4-0 to PSG but Figo doesn’t necessarily believe that makes Real favourites to go on and win the European Cup for a 12th time.

“You have Bayern Munich, you have other big clubs, it’s impossible for me to say one favourite. I hope so ... but it’s difficult.”