French fitness coach Gregory Dupont has spoken of the ups and downs of working at Real Madrid.
Dupont worked as a fitness coach at Real Madrid between 2019 and 2021, mostly under Zinedine Zidane’s regime, and the Frenchman has admitted that during his time in the Spanish capital he was on the receiving end of threats.
Such was the frustration of the performances of the Los Blancos team, as well as the regularity with which players were going down with long injury absences, Dupont was blamed.
“We all know what it means to be at the service of Real Madrid,” Dupont admitted in an interview with La Voix du Nord.
“It is very professional, everything is calculated and the image is very important.
“I even received threats, if I didn’t give them information they would relay things about me, the only way out was to not respond, but they did it anyway, at one point when there were injuries it was all my fault.”
Dupont also gave an insight into Zidane’s working style as coach at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
“He was very demanding,” Dupont continued.
“We often have the image of him as a very talented player, who finds everything easy, but he is someone who works a lot. He’s a respectful coach and makes the players work a lot, he always seeks to make them progress.”
The pressure on those representing Los Merengues is understood and widely accepted by those who agree to sign with the club, yet Dupont believes that some find it harder to acclimatise than others.
“In Madrid, the players dress up to go out in the city, even if only to go to the movies,” Dupont explained.
“If they are at a very high level it is because they have already passed many stages, they manage to handle it, they know that the staff can’t control everything.
“Nowadays some journalists write anything, and in Madrid it is really exacerbated, the written things are completely false and you can’t do anything about it because correcting the stories gives them importance.”
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