Javier Zanetti: 'I almost joined Real Madrid'

Javier Zanetti says that he came close to leaving Inter Milan for Real Madrid in 1999.

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 12 November 2013

Javier Zanetti has revealed that he came close to leaving Inter Milan for Real Madrid before taking the captain's armband at the San Siro.

The 40-year-old has skippered Inter since 1999, but has claimed that he "was about" to join Los Blancos before taking on the responsibility.

"I was about to leave, for a very important team in Spain, such as Real Madrid," Zanetti told Videonews.

"But if I had to leave, I wanted to leave a mark for Inter. Then I was given the captain's armband and it was a beautiful responsibility. Everything that came after that was something extraordinary."

Zanetti returned from a long-term Achilles injury against Livorno at the weekend.

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Premier League Table

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Real Madrid	33	26	6	1	71	22	49	84
2	Girona Girona	33	22	5	6	69	40	29	71
3	Barcelona	32	21	7	4	64	37	27	70
4	Atletico Madrid Atletico	33	20	4	9	62	39	23	64
5	Athletic Bilbao	33	16	10	7	53	33	20	58
6	Real Sociedad	33	13	12	8	46	35	11	51
7	Real Betis Betis	33	12	13	8	41	39	2	49
8	Valencia	32	13	8	11	35	34	1	47
9	Villarreal	33	12	9	12	54	55	-1	45
10	Getafe	33	10	13	10	41	45	-4	43
11	Osasuna	33	11	6	16	37	49	-12	39
12	Sevilla	33	9	11	13	42	46	-4	38
13	Alaves Alaves	33	10	8	15	31	38	-7	38
14	Las Palmas Las Palmas	33	10	7	16	30	41	-11	37
15	Rayo Vallecano	33	7	13	13	27	42	-15	34
16	Mallorca	33	6	14	13	27	39	-12	32
17	Celta Vigo	33	7	10	16	37	50	-13	31
18	Cadiz Cadiz	33	4	14	15	23	46	-23	26
19	Granada	33	4	9	20	36	61	-25	21
R	Almeria	33	1	11	21	32	67	-35	14