By Tim Stannard

To BBC or not BBC – that is the question for Zidane

Sports Burst is keeping a beady eye on Coach Zizou at Real Madrid, lest the French manager start sporting a huge blond combover, wearing red ties and using CAPS LOCK on Twitter.

Zinedine Zidane has good reason to be irked at the fairly mad media in Spain for pretty much the same reason Jose Mourinho is getting the huff at Manchester United – he can’t play 14 footballers on the pitch at the same time. Zidane is currently being grilled like a Croque Monsieur in every press conference on why he is choosing Isco over Gareth Bale and if it is an insult to the Welshman. “This is football, we're all in the same team and I need all my players,” sighed Zidane on Tuesday.

And when it is vice-versa, Zidane is probed thoroughly on whether Isco accidentally sat on the Madrid manager’s cat – still the number one reason why James Rodriguez was never favored at Madrid under Zizou.

Throw in Karim Benzema’s occasional absences, and the ongoing existential status of Marco Asensio and dealing with the media is an even bigger chore for Zidane than ensuring Cristiano Ronaldo’s locker room mirror is crystal clear at all times.

Zidane will have a whole new chance to be asked stupid questions when Real Madrid host Athletic Bilbao in a La Liga clash live on beIN SPORTS at 3:25PM ET / 12:25ET PT. As a pleasing warm-up act, tune in at 1:20PM ET / 10:20AM PT for Valencia against Getafe, with the home team eyeing Madrid’s current third-placed spot.

Juve look to turn up the heat on Napoli

Over in Italy, it’s a chant of ‘clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere’ as Serie A blasts through nine games that could decide the ultimate fate of the title and Champions League places. Inter got a head start with a Tuesday win over Cagliari to move into the third behind Napoli and Juve.

Juve currently hold a six-point lead over Napoli with the Old Lady playing relegation-threatened Crotone live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT 6 at 2:30PM ET with Napoli really needing to beat Udinese to stand any chance of keeping some slim title hopes alive. That game is live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT 10. Fourth-placed Roma are home to Genoa, which you can catch live on beIN SPORTS CONNECT 5.

Still time though for the latest fine Italian whine over last week’s penalty for Real Madrid against Juventus. The latest is from Ex-Milan head Adriano Galliani, who blasted Michael Oliver for being “an idiot” and failing to understand “football psychology” for sending off Gianluigi Buffon.

See what Christian Vieri says about that on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.

Pogba with new chance to disappoint in United away day

What else is cooking in soccer's kitchen on Wednesday?

Well, Jose Mourinho has a whole new opportunity to fall out with Paul Pogba as Manchester United have travelled to Bournemouth aiming to gain a little wiggle room in second place in the table. The second semi-final in the Coupe de France is taking place with PSG looking for a 'Caen-do' attitude to win a place in the final against the mighty minnows of Les Herbiers. That's on beIN SPORTS CONNECT 4 from 2:50PM ET / 11:50 AM PT.

The German Cup is also at the semi-final stages. Bayern Munich booked their spot in a 6-2 crushing of Bayer Leverkusen with Thomas Muller waking up from his World Cup hibernation with a hat-trick - and the Bavarians will be joined by either Schalke or Eintracht Frankfurt.

Remember to catch the best of the action from the whole day with Mr Christian Vieri on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT

Zlatan vows to be in Russia for World Cup

So, it was Jimmy Kimmel in the end.

Sports Burst was pondering which late night show would bag Zlatan’s first big network TV interview. And in the televised sofa session, the LA Galaxy man announced that he was going to Russia 2018 – but failed to mention in what capacity, either as a player or tourist.

Which is probably news for his MLS side which would be expecting him to be turning out for them, considering the Swede is the only one at the club who apparently knows how to score goals. "I'm going to the World Cup, yes. If I say more, they will hang me, so I have to be careful what I say.”

Just for good measure, Zlatan declared that "a World Cup without me wouldn't be a World Cup." Quite right.

WHAT IS SPORTS BURST?

The life philosophy of Sports Burst is that if you are not upsetting someone, then you are not trying hard enough. Sports Burst is a daily trawl and troll through the morning's sports news to bring you fact-nuggets to make you both smile and swear. Hopefully at the same time.