Zidane: Real Madrid Will Return Favor and Not Give Barcelona Guard of Honor

Barcelona could be La Liga champions by the time the next Clasico rolls around, but Zidane is holding a grudge over what happened after the Club World Cup.

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that his men won't be giving rivals Barcelona a guard of honor, if they're already La Liga champions by the time they square off in the next Clasico.

The Catalan side are sitting pretty atop Spain's first division and could be champions by the time they open the Cam Nou doors to Los Blancos on May 6.

Teams usually perform the guard of honor routine for newly-crowned champs until the end of the season. But Zidane has declared that his team will break tradition and won't be showing their respect in that way - if any at all - when they meet again next month.

The Frenchman has explained that the decision was taken by him, and it came as a result of La Blaugrana refusing them a guard of honor when they returned home after winning the World Club Cup.

"We will not give a guard of honor, this is my decision," Zidane said as quoted by the Metro. "Barcelona didn’t follow the tradition when we won the Club World Cup. This is my decision."

That does seem a fair point, but it's unlikely Barca will mind too much as they'll probably still be buzzing from the title capture if that does turn out to be the case.

While Real are set to officially lose their title soon, they're still going strong in the Champions League and have eyes set on a third successive triumph. And having trounced Juventus 3-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, they're one good result away from the semis.

But they could possibly face Barca there also, with Ernesto Valverde's side taking a 4-1 lead in their tie against Roma and almost certain to progress as well.