I played in Zinedine Zidane's last game for Real Madrid, in 2006. The Bernabeu was full, 78,000 Madrid fans, and I scored twice in a 3-3 draw.
The second goal came in the 85th minute, which put us 3-2 up. I thought we were heading for a memorable win, but you know what Madrid are like; they equalised two minutes from time.
I wished Zidane all the best for the future after the final whistle. You could see it was an emotional night for him, his last game in club football. Six weeks later, he played his last game in football, the World Cup final where he scored but was sent off for butting Marco Materazzi’s chest. It was a sad way to end a superb career.
Zidane was one the best I ever played against, the finest player in the world at his peak. He was strong and tall, yet very skilful with wonderful technique. He would protect the ball and it was almost impossible to get it off him. He would change direction quickly with the ball. He could dribble, shoot, head and volley. He had the balance of someone half his size, the first touch of the greatest strikers.
He was fabulous to watch, a game changer who scored the winning goal in a European Cup final. When he had the ball, he looked like he was dancing over it. So you understand why he was the most expensive player in the world when he moved from Juventus to Real Madrid in 2001.
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Zidane being a great player does not mean he will be a great manager. Many great players have struggled in management, while some of the best managers, the Fergusons, Mourinhos and Wengers, had quite modest playing careers. As did Rafa Benitez, who Zidane replaces as Madrid coach.
Benitez’s record in charge at the Bernabeu was not even that bad and he was a Madrileno who had been at the club as a reserve player and youth coach, but it was not good enough for Real Madrid. When you lose 4-0 at home to Barcelona, it is hard for you to stay at Madrid.
Zidane has a couple of advantages over Benitez. Firstly, players will have an immediate respect for him because they knew what he could do on the pitch. Players are like that; they know it is not just talk, and they think they can learn from the greats to improve their own game. They will be eagerly listening.
Zidane also worked with a lot of the players as an assistant coach for two years under Carlo Ancelotti when Madrid won “La Decima”, the coveted 10th European Cup, in 2014. They will know him well, would have trained with him, before he left and went to coach Madrid’s reserve team. Knowing all Madrid’s young talents will help, too. I see lots of former Real Madrid players doing very well at other clubs, but I am sure fans would like to see players coming from the youth system.
Zidane has also been close to Madrid for many years and has lived in the Spanish capital since retiring as a player, even though he is not from there. He knows who is who, he has been part of the fabric. Crucially, he gets on well with the president, Florentino Perez.
Zidane was popular with players when he worked with them, but even that does not mean he will be a top coach, because what he is doing now is completely different to anything he has done before.
He will have a brief honeymoon period, but he is taking over a club with problems; that is why they sacked Benitez. And no matter how much Madrid talk about building for the future, let us not pretend that Real Madrid do not want success now. There is a lack of patience among the fans and they will demand results instantly; they will not be happy if they do not get them.
That is how it is at Real Madrid, with 27 coaches in the past 25 years, more than any other major club. If they do not like it, they change. The media and fans are far quicker to get on a coach’s back than in England, where the fans are more respectful. Not only does Zidane have to do well, he has to get his team to compete with the best team in the world, Barcelona, and he has to do that quickly.
So how does he do it? First, he has to successfully communicate his immense football knowledge to the players in front of him every day: It is no good knowing if you cannot share what you know.
It will be interesting to watch Zidane from the dugout. As a player, Zidane was reserved with the media; as a coach, there will be no escape. He will be expected to speak daily, with his every word analysed far more than when he played.
There will always be criticism from someone and he will require a strong character to make decisions. I think he has that, but as any manager who played will tell you when you are a player you think about yourself. As a manager he will have the problems of 25 players, that is before he starts with the off field stuff at a club where as much happens off the pitch as on it. There are political angles, there is intrigue and there are always people speaking to journalists. All of this can unsettle a club.
I wish Zidane good luck. He will need it.
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