The 39-year-old, a World Cup winner in 1998 but whose career ended in disgrace with a red card in the 2006 final for headbutting Italy'sMarco Materazzi, has not ruled out the idea of making a return to the international scene as France boss.

"Les Bleus' coach? Why not?" he was quoted as saying in Le Parisien. "It would not hurt... Everything is possible in life."

Real Madrid sporting director Zidane is full of praise for the job done by former international team-mate Laurent Blanc in rebuilding the team over the past 14 months.

Blanc succeeded Raymond Domenech in summer 2010 after the debacle of their World Cup campaign in South Africa, the squad refusing to train following a row between the coach and striker Nicolas Anelka, and exiting at the group stage.

The former defender has since led France to the brink of reaching the Euro 2012 finals - they are top of Group D heading into their last two qualifiers.

Zidane accepts they are not yet the finished article but believes they are on the right track.

"We must give them time," he said. "The question is whether he [Blanc] was the right person to lead this team and the answer is yes.

"We asked Laurent to build at an incredible rate. He has not done too badly.

"He has done a good job. He started from a long, long way back after what happened in the 2010 World Cup.

"For those who have experienced the failure of the 2002 World Cup, like me, you know how such difficulties can be destabilising."

France will be without Madrid forward Karim Benzema for the final two Euro 2012 qualifiers - against Albania on Friday and against Bosnia-Herzegovina four days later - but Zidane is backing the remaining players to see Les Bleus through.

"Benzema is the most talented player in this team, but it must be able to cope without its best players," Zidane said.

On Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri, who has been criticised for some of his recent international displays, Zidane added: "I think we have been hard with him. He has not always excelled, but he has provided good benefits.

"He should be encouraged because he is one of our quality players like Karim and Franck [Ribery]."