Rivaldo: Koeman is doing well with young players and Zidane, quite the opposite

Rivaldo has praised the way Ronald Koeman has been working with Barcelona‘s youngsters and has criticised Zinedine Zidane for failing to do something similar at Real Madrid.

The former Barcelona playmaker explained that the Dutchman has successfully integrated young prodigies into a group of experienced players.

“I have always said that the key to managing young talents is not to put too much pressure on them,” Rivaldo said in his Betfair column. “and I think [Ronald] Koeman is doing well, bringing the kids together with [Sergio] Busquets, [Lionel] Messi and Jordi Alba.

“Koeman deserves to be congratulated and respected for that management.

“I don’t know who will be behind all this, but [Zinedine] Zidane is doing the opposite of what he did when he started using young talents like [Fede] Valverde, Rodrygo [Goes] or Vinicius [Junior]

“I read this week that it could be a punishment because Vinicius would have looked at his mobile phone during a Zidane talk

“Those things do not have to be solved by leaving a footballer without playing, because then you are hurting your own team and Zidane himself. Read More