Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid manager – hard work or ready-made success?

Zinedine Zidane is without a doubt one of France’s top footballing icons. We evaluate if his recent success as a manager is down to timing or if Zidane could too become one of the greatest coaches of all time.

The untouchable magician had the skill, panache and sheer determination to win his team games, normally in a breath-taking, beautifully defining moment when the time would almost stand still and watch as Zidane nonchalantly added another strike to his career tally.

In a career that stretched from Cannes and Bordeaux in France, to Juventus’ San Siro and finally the awe-inspiring cauldron that is the Santiago Bernabeu, Zidane won the attention of the world as he danced his way to football stardom, picking up the FIFA World Player of the Year three times and the 1998 Ballon d’Or. The Frenchman is without a doubt one of the best players of all time, and every football fan lucky enough to have seen him in action, whether on the television screen or in person, will feel privileged that they have spent worthwhile time watching him demonstrate his countless talents.

His career on the field cannot be debated, but perhaps his newly found skill in the dugout can.

Zidane’s first foray into coaching was in November 2010, when the then-Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho, appealed to the Frenchman to work closer with the club and represent in events and functions. This was followed by Zidane becoming Madrid’s new sporting director, before his appointment as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant coach when the Italian was in charge of Los Blancos.

After a spell as assistant coach, Real Madrid announced that Zidane would become the head coach for their B team, Real Madrid Castilla. Despite the controversy surrounding the French icon’s supposed lack of coaching badges, Castilla enjoyed a successful season and pushed Zidane as a serious contender for the senior team job.

On the 4th January 2016, as many in the football world had predicted, Rafa Benitez was fired from his role and replaced on the same day by Zidane, who signed a two-and-a-half-year deal. The Frenchman’s first match as manager ended in a 5-0 victory over Deportivo de La Coruna and this set the precedent for how the rest of the season would follow.

Madrid ended up finishing the La Liga season as runners-up, finishing just one point behind eventual champions Barcelona. However, in the Champions League, Zidane led his team to victory in dramatic fashion.

After squeezing past Manchester City in the semi-finals 1-0 on aggregate, Madrid were to play their city rivals Atletico in the final. After a tense 90 minutes and after extra time had passed, the game was eventually settled on penalties and Zidane’s Los Blancos came out as the victors. This made Zidane the seventh man to win the European Cup as both a player and a manager and the first French manager to win the trophy.

The following season, Zidane led Real Madrid to the La Liga title and created a new Spanish record by remaining unbeaten in 40 consecutive matches. The Frenchman also led his team to another Champions League final, where the Spaniards comfortably dispatched Juventus 4-1 to retain their trophy. With the European victory, Zidane became only the second manager to win the European Cup in his first two seasons as a manager; a shared achievement with former Madrid manager, Jose Villalonga.

2017 saw Zidane pick up the FIFA Men’s Coach award and he has now won as many titles throughout his managerial career as he has lost games. However, the question still remains, did Zidane inherit a naturally-gifted team, his side primed and expected to win the La Liga title, or did he have to graft to form a title-winning side? Perhaps this question is now more poignant than ever, after Barcelona have now opened up a gap between themselves and Madrid in their quest to regain the La Liga trophy?

When Madrid hired the Frenchman, the big names in the squad certainly geared Los Blancos for a title challenge at the very minimum. Sergio Ramos had remained at the club despite a well-publicised flirt with Manchester United and the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale can all be considered world-class and would seamlessly slot into many title-winning squads.

On the fringes of the squad at that time were Lucas Vasquez, who has broken into the first-team fold more recently, Jese and Mateo Kovacic – and, despite their lack of first-team starts, are seen as more than capable of changing the tide of a match.

The following season, Madrid won the treble and completed a successful cull of some of the squad’s fringe players. The acquisition of Alvaro Morata from Juventus through his buy-back clause turned into another solid piece of business, despite the Spaniard’s short-lived spell back at the Bernabeu. 

The usual names fired Madrid to the La Liga title and also helped their team retain the Champions League trophy – perhaps the most difficult achievement in the modern football era.

However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Zidane has proven time and time again that he is a tactically adept manager and is more than capable of turning a game on its head with clever, well-timed substitutions. One of the most important attributes any manager should possess is the ability to read a game and make changes depending on proceedings. Zidane’s squad depth has allowed the Frenchman to throw on players and has seen them time and time again make positive changes.

It is without a doubt that the Real Madrid squad will respect Zidane, and trust him. Any football player would be stupid not to, after everything the Frenchman has achieved and conquered in the sport. The lethal combination of a world-class squad, packed to the brim with talented players, and a manager who possess both winning experience as a player and coach means that Madrid will likely be untouchable as the kings of Europe for the foreseeable future.

There is work to be done, of course. Players will need to be brought in and moved on, and a replacement for the invaluable and irreplaceable Cristiano Ronaldo will need to be found, as the Portuguese icon continues to age. But Zidane is without a doubt the right man to undertake this project – and if he gets it right, he will likely secure his place in the managerial hall of fame, to go alongside everything he has done as a player.