Zinedine Zidane was one of the best players to ever play the game but he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves as a coach. His ability will only be appreciated once he leaves Real Madrid for good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqV1c1PdXx4
Real Madrid took a three-point lead at the top of La Liga on Sunday. The truth is that this is not such a big deal. In a season where nobody seems to want to win the league, Madrid is at the top by default.
What is a big deal is the way that Zinedine Zidane has come in and rescued the club. After walking out in the aftermath of their last Champions League victory, Zidane was parachuted back in to save them last season.
The football has not always been pretty. Nor the results great. But little by little, Zidane has brought Real Madrid back to the top.
The problem is that nobody really cares. Not least his boss.
Nobody questions Zidane’s place near the very top of the list of the best players to ever play the game . He won it all and he did it with so much style. He was a player that made those around him look better and he delivered on the highest stage, time and time again.
As a coach, this recognition is simply not there. No other coach has ever won three consecutive Champions League titles, but you almost never hear Zidane’s name listed when we talk about the very top coaches in world football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cOtR4fvWKE
Klopp, Guardiola, Simeone, Tuchel, Allegri, and even the dinosaur Mourinho might get a mention.
Zinedine Zidane? “What a great player he was!”
The problem for Zidane is that Real Madrid is only ever the Florentino Perez show. Every manager is on borrowed time from the first second they walk through the door.
You can get sacked for winning the Champions League by this man.
The coach will be publicly praised but his position is never secure. Zidane might have won three Champions League titles, but Florentino has five.
The fact that Perez considers the coach’s role to be a secondary one is apparently behind the reasoning why Zidane wants to leave again.
Zidane has his mind set on bringing Paul Pogba to Real Madrid and building the team around him. Perez isn’t really into that idea.
With La Liga looking like it will be brought back to the club for the first time since 2017, this alone would constitute another healthy success for the coach.
The Champions League could also be an outside bet too. If Eden Hazard can come back into the team refreshed and on form, this could spark Real to a 14th title.
Another Champions League title and this one without Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane would obviously have nothing more to prove.
The crazy thing is that somehow he does. And the best way he could do this is by walking out on Florentino Perez again and moving to a new league.
Juventus would be the obvious job, considering the reverence he’s held in Turin. But there could also be the Bayern Munich job. If he’s a real masochist, maybe even Manchester United and Pogba.
The truth is that Zinedine Zidane has nothing to prove to anybody as a coach. Maybe Florentino Perez will realize that once he’s gone.