Zidane has high hopes for Mourinho partnership

France great Zinedine Zidane says he has high hopes for his working relationship with Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who has sought to involve him more closely in first-team affairs.

Since November 2010, Zidane has been working as an advisor to Real president Florentino Perez, but the former Real star said he has also been working as a link between the playing squad and the management.

"It's my commitment. It's what I want, getting closer to the pitch and the team," Zidane told the Telefoot programme on French television channel TF1 on Sunday.

"I don't talk much and people wonder what I do, but I do lots of things inside the club. It's what interests me, the day-to-day.

"What's good is that I was brought in by the coach. I didn't click my fingers."

Expanding further on his relationship with Mourinho, Zidane added: "I talk to him every day when I'm in Madrid.

"We're only at the start of our relationship and we shouldn't get carried away, but I hope it will be something good for us both."

Mourinho reportedly clashed with Real sporting director Jorge Valdano earlier in the season, over the Portuguese coach's lack of faith in misfiring France international striker Karim Benzema.

However, asked to comment on the relationship between Mourinho and Valdano by his former France team-mate Bixente Lizarazu, who is now a pundit, Zidane was tight-lipped.

"I have an opinion but I keep it to myself," he said.

"I have lots of opinions on lots of things but too often it's making a noise about nothing."

Zidane, a world champion with France in 1998 and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, spent five years as a player at Real prior to his retirement from football in 2006.