adminMADRID. – The relentless demands for success at Real Madrid have cost many high-profile and heavily experienced coaches their jobs, but Zinedine Zidane has made the move into senior management look serene as he celebrates a year in charge as a European and world soccer champion.
Madrid was a club with a very different feel 12 months ago when Zidane was promoted from his post as coach of Real’s youth team Castilla in a salvage operation from club president Florentino Perez to rescue a hitherto disastrous campaign as Rafael Benitez lasted just seven months in the Santiago Bernabeu hot seat.
Zidane won everything from the Champions League to the World Cup as one of the greatest players of his generation. Yet, even by those standards, his rapid rise as a coach has been breathtaking.
The Frenchman has won more trophies (three) than he has suffered defeats (two) in his first 53 games in charge.
After adding the Club World Cup to the Champions League and European Super Cup to end 2016, Zidane celebrated his first anniversary in charge at home to Sevilla last nightr in the Copa del Rey last 16 on a club record 37-game unbeaten run.
“Zidane last year changed our lives,” Perez said in a recent interview.
Despite being very much the president’s man, Zidane hasn’t been bowed by Perez’s often perceived desire for the starting line-up to be determined by the number of shirts sold by his “Galactico” signings. – AFP.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter