Zinedine Zidane not only wowed fans with his football skills but also inspired an entire generation of players with his mental tenacity
PASSIONATE, INSPIRATIONAL, LEADER, GENERAL, commander, a proud father, a philanthropist, and most of all a coach who would defend his players till his last breath. He was the best thing to come out of France, after Bridgitte Bardot and champagne, of course! He is Zinedine Zidane. He would walk into any team and stake claim. The sound of his steps while entering the Real Madrid dressing room would signal the players that ‘His Majesty’ had arrived.
January 4, 2016 was an important date in the history of Real Madrid Club de Futbol. The club’s official Twitter handle put to rest all speculation. It was Zidane who would be unveiled as the new Real Madrid coach. Zizou—as he is fondly called—took over the shambles of the Los Blancos from Rafa Benitez in the middle of the 2015-2016 season.
A lot of questions were raised on Zidane’s appointment as coach. The biggest of them all was: Would Zidane be half as good a coach as he was a player? Would he be able to handle the egos of individuals like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos or Gareth Bale? Would the players listen to him?
AS A PLAYER, Zidane had won everything that was on offer. The World Cup, European Championship, Champions League, domestic titles and the Ballon d’Or. It was time he won everything as a coach, too. He was the ‘Man Friday’ for the then coach Carlo Ancelotti, when they won the La Decima in 2014. He was given the reins of the Real Madrid ‘B’ team from 2014-16.
Not to mention, the Frenchman had turned the theory “Great footballers cannot be great coaches” on its head by the time he resigned from his role at Real.
Esta historia es de la edición July - August 2018 de Sports Illustrated India.
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