Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid, Final, UEFA Champions League 2015-16 - All hail Zinedine Zidane

Just imagine Real Madrid’s situation eight or nine months back. They were a lost soul and suffering from an identity crisis. Under Rafael Benitez, Real Madrid’s performance has been terrible and an eyesore for the fans. Personally, I was gutted by Benitez’s plans and the lack of creativity in the midfield of Real Madrid hurt me a lot. Be it in La Liga or UEFA Champions League, the Los Blancos were becoming a butt jokes for the social media vultures.

Thankfully, the Real Madrid supremo Florentino Perez, sacked Rafa and appointed the French maestro Zinedine Zidane as the coach. Mr. Perez played a gamble and how wonderfully it paid off remains a part of Real Madrid folklore. Neither Zidane did anything like Pepe Guardiola nor did he try to being over ambitious or over-creative or over-innovative, but kept things simple and played the right person in the right position.

Zidane’s inclusion of the Brazilian defensive midfielder Casemiro was a masterstroke. Normally, we don’t like to hail the midfield stoppers or destroyers or the hitmen, but their contributions remain one of the most important aspects behind any team’s success. The combination of Casemiro and Luka Mordic changed the scenario of Real Madrid’s midfield. While Casemiro maintained the balance between midfield and defence like Zito, Mauro Silva, Carlos Dunga, Codoaldo, Flacao and Edmilson, Mordic played the role of a Didi and Gerson as a deep-lying playmaker. Such combinations help the attacking midfielders to open up their game a bit more and Toni Kross, who for unknown reasons was used as a defensive midfielder by Rafa,  was set free to play the role which suits him more and loves doing it while playing for Germany - an attacking and creative midfielder.   

As a whole, Zidane’s midfield was an amalgamation of compactness and creativity which gave Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale enough freedom up front. No matter how many world class strikers you buy or include in the team, without a compact and creative midfield and rock solid defence, you can’t achieve success at the highest level.   

Real Madrid’s game started to change. From nowhere, they started to play with a lot more intent and their game gained a certain momentum which propelled them to improve their position in La Liga and last night, they were crowned as the Champions of Europe. After such a mediocre start to the season, Real’s such an achievement is something staggering.   

Zidane had been the catalyst behind Real’s success this season.

All hail Zinedine Zidane!!!   

Thank You

Faisal Caesar