Not many people can boast to having a Ballon d’Or or a Manager of the Year award in their trophy cabinet. Only one person in the history of the game has been able to claim both these prestigious awards: Zinedine Zidane.
The Frenchman achieved great heights as a player, which includes three Ballon d'Or among others, and has performed remarkably as a coach of one of the greatest clubs in the world. At Real Madrid, he has already lifted every available trophy with the Los Blancos, with the exception of the Copa del Rey – winning the Champions League trophy back-to-back with apparent ease.
However, all will not be well forever and it seems the former Juventus midfielder has finally encountered his own set of challenges.
Real Madrid are currently sitting ten points behind arch-rivals Barcelona, who sit at the top of the La Liga table and they are three points behind Group H leaders in the Champions League, Tottenham Hotspur. In a season where Madrid was supposed to put on a genuine contention for the treble, fans are worried that they might end the season without a single trophy to their name.
This is why some sections of the Real Madrid fan base want to see Zidane out of the Santiago Bernabeu, especially after they were defeated hands down by Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League.
However, club President Florentino Perez should turn a deaf ear to those voices.
For starters, Madrid is undergoing a change – they no longer have to spend big money to buy players and they are more reliant on youngsters, so it is about time they start giving managers the chance to fully effect the change before showing them the door, despite failures.
Not advising them to persist with someone who is adept at failing, but Zidane cannot be categorized as a failure. Indeed, this is a man who won consecutive Champions League titles and has won four trophies just this year, which could amass to five after the end of the Club World Cup at the tail end of the year.
So all these talks about axing the Frenchman is nothing but a spontaneous reaction that should be taken lightly.
Apart from the fact that Zidane is the most respected manager to have coached Madrid since Vicente del Bosque. Every player in the team holds him in high regard, and he has the charisma to keep the dressing room under control.
A point that has been strongly raised against Zidane is lack of tactical shrewdness. While there is a grain of truth in that, the former Bordeaux midfielder made some brilliant tactical decisions in some of the most crucial games last season – which includes the Champions League final against Juventus.
The problem lies in Zidane’s decision to change the team’s style of play to accommodate Isco in his preferred role. Isco might not have been at his best for Madrid, but the Spaniard can rightly be named Madrid’s best player in 2017 and Zidane’s devotion to him is logical.
However, the logic is not paying off at the moment as the team’s tactical equilibrium takes a hit with Isco in the gap behind two forwards in a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond. It produced nice results last season, but teams seem to have found a way around it this season.
Whatever happens at the end of the season, Madrid should persist with Zidane as he is the only one that can take them out of this rut – after all, he is the man who added seven titles to the club in just 22 months at the helm of the club.