It's an election year. It makes sense the president doesn't renew the coach in May so naturally there's a bit of uncertainty.
Loved the 442 diamond to start the game with Isco's free-role to overload the midfield and the transition to 433 to take advantage of tired legs towards the end of the game and push Ronaldo to CF. A lot of people hate on Zidane for every little mistake and he deserves praise tonight for this masterclass. Hala Madrid!
Other than starting benz, masterful managing today The team worked hard and dominated. The subs were perfect. Bravo
Hopefully, he can lead us over the finishing line in both competitions. His rotations has a lot to do with Ron being so fresh in big games where as he was not 100% during the business end in previous years.
His substitutions were spot on. The right player at the right time. His tactics were wonderful. I got no complaints. Grande Zizou..
Zidane's future: “I’m happy at Madrid, I enjoy every day with my players. But we haven’t won anything, and we need to remain switched on.” http://en.as.com/en/2017/05/02/football/1493761937_945525.html
For some reason, I kept thinking that we should bring Kovacic for Kroos late on to bring some energy to the midfield and close out the game. I just remembered that we wasted a sub on the Dani injury, doh!
ZZ's biggest achievement has been to break the voodoo Atletico had over us during Ancelotti's time and putting the mattress makers back to their rightful place !
Quotes from the presser : Zidane: Una bella partita. Abbiamo fatto –oh sorry, I was speaking Italian. Pardon me. Reporter: Well, it’s however you’d like! Haha since you speak everything Zidane: Yes we’ve done a great match. I believe that, but like you already know, anyways, it’s a match. We scored 3 goals, we kept a clean sheet, but we have work to do in the return leg, and you know that in football, until the referee doesn’t blow the whistle in the second half at the end of the match, we don’t know what could happen. We can be happy with what we’ve done because it’s true, that the lads have done a grand match the lot of them and I can be proud of them all. Reporter: Your satisfaction level, what is it? Because you’ve won all the individual duels. Zidane: Yes, enormous. The first half hour was fantastic. Well, but now we need to rest. Think that, well, we did a great game, but like you know this, we haven’t won anything yet. So to think already about the Saturday match, that we have an important match in La Liga and tomorrow think about—Today we will celebrate!—but tomorrow we have to think about Saturday’s match and then the return tie. You know that until the ref doesn’t blow the whistle, the game is not sentenced.
15 years ago on this day, Monsieur Zidane scored "that volley" to win the 9th. Having been involved as the assistant coach while Real Madrid won the 10th, and having coached the team to the 11th, he is about to battle it out against his former club team Juventus to try and win a record 12th CL title for the club. Leyenda! Zidane scored one of the greatest goals in #UCLfinal history #OnThisDay in 2002 💥 pic.twitter.com/j6zzBIUA3o— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 15, 2017
Management 101. Talk about prioritizing goals and achieving them. Zidane: La Liga is Madrid’s priority 21/08/2016 at 12:03 Zinedine Zidane has revealed that La Liga is Real Madrid’s “priority” ahead of their first Liga match for 2016-17 against Real Sociedad on Sunday. Madrid last won the Spanish title under Jose Mourinho in 2012, although they have lifted the Champions League twice in that time, and Zidane is keen on ending Los Blancos’ “very, very, very, important” drought in the competition. “The League is very important, it’s the day-to-day [competition],” the coach said at a press conference. “Then there are the cups and the Champions League, but the league is very, very, very important.”
What a blessing ZZ has been to our club. Benitez days were the lowest I've been through as a RM fan(even worse than April 04-06) and ZZ comes in and not only steadies the ship, but make us ultimate winners. True legend. Thanks Zizou.
IG | Cristiano Ronaldo: "Thanks Zizou" pic.twitter.com/AIrvO5FdBq— RmadridEdition (@RMadridEdition) May 21, 2017
We have finally found our Alex Ferguson. And its even better since hes one of the greatest players in Madrid and world history. What a player, what a manager, what a legend. He brought the league in his first full season, led by example, rotated like a boss, keeping our ageing best player fresh throughout. Hope he stays for a long, long time.
I'm not a religious guy at all but the word blessing really does encapsulate it well. Thank you thank you thank you Zizou. Legend.
Zidane, always loved by us of course but I think it's fair to say his status as a legend has jumped up significantly from this triumph. If we win The Champions League, becoming the first team to defend the title in its current format, he has to be elevated to Raul and Stefano levels of absolute Beast-Legend.
I don't agree with his decisions most of the time but you can't argue with success. Kudos to him for getting this organization mid-season and making it even better.