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“I was surprised by how calm, and almost how shy, he was. He didn’t
talk too much, but what he says wins your instant respect. He just said
he wanted us to go out, train and enjoy ourselves.
“He’s very demanding. From the first day, he wanted us to play good
football and to win promotion. We weren’t able to achieve that, but
he was great at instilling a winning mentality.”
With Zidane passed over for the top job in the summer of 2015
in favour of Benitez (below right), it appeared another campaign
of rope-learning was in store at Castilla. Benitez may have
been the boss, but there was no ignoring the fox circling his
hen house.
“We all knew that Zidane was the next option if Rafa didn’t
finish the season,” Marca journalist Ruben Jimenez tells
FFT. “To be honest, there hadn’t been much of an
improvement in his Castilla side, but there was always
the feeling that things would get better for Zidane with
the first team.”“ THERE WILL BE On LY On E MESSAGE: TO WIN !”
On January 4, 2016 – the day after a limp 2-2 draw
with Gary Neville’s Valencia – Benitez was gone, just
six months into a three-year deal.
President Perez got the morale boost he desperately
desired. The following day, more than 5,000 fans turned
up at Valdebebas to watch Zidane’s first training session.
Such was the desire among Madridistas to get a first look
of the returning Zizou, the atmosphere there was more like
a matchday inside the Bernabeu.
Yet Zidane’s early days were about more than just living
off his name. In addition to his trophy-winning ambitions,
the 45-year-old’s opening press conference was notable for
Zidane mentioning “work” no fewer than 14 times. He“ HE WAn TS HIS PLAYERS TO TOUCH THE BALL,
TO PLAY GOOD FOOTBALL, TO PLAY LIKE HE DID”
wanted it from his players and said he wouldn’t stop until he
delivered success.
A routine was swiftly established. He arrives at the training ground
at 8.30am and doesn’t leave until between 9.30pm and 10pm. At the
end of every session, he has a meeting with the rest of his coaching
team – assistant coaches David Bettoni, Hamidou Msaidie, goalkeeper
coach Luis Llopis and fitness coaches Antonio Pintus and Javier Mallo
– to analyse several videos of the session and discuss their thoughts.
“The more the week goes on, the more he starts to talk about the
opposition and the way that he wants his team to play – I know he still
coaches this way,” former Castilla centre-back Derik recalls. “There’s
the basic philosophy of maintaining good defensive shape – and then
attacking well as a unit – but by the Thursday or Friday he wants his
players to understand the plan, and especially where the opposition is
weakest so that you can exploit them – he’s ruthless in that regard.”
In between this preparation, Zidane still finds time for a 45-minute
run, a session of Bikram yoga every day and, ideally, a game of
tennis. He’s long since accepted he won’t get much sleep and gone
are the days of picking his kids up from school.
“I’m convinced of the day-to-day work I will do with my players,” he
said in that first press conference. “That’s fundamental and there will
be only one message: to win.” It’s a philosophy that has remained with
Zidane since his playing days at Juventus during the mid-90s. Talent
alone is useless without the application.
Crucially, Zidane worked quickly to instil a harmonious
atmosphere in the squad. His final words to the players before his
maiden game in charge, against Deportivo, were simple and sought to
establish rapport.
He said: “Go out there, have a good time and make the public enjoy
themselves. Enjoy it.” That last phrase is repeated before every game.
Madrid thrashed the Galician side 5-0.
“It was really tough and delicate period,” says journalist
Jimenez. “He changed the team’s mentality and brought
a happiness back to the squad. He wants his players to
touch the ball, to play good football. Basically, he wants his
Madrid to play like he did, and that, compared with Benitez,
is huge. Rafa’s football was boring, the players didn’t enjoy
playing for him and his style had nothing really to do with
Madrid’s identity.
“Zidane found himself in a dressing room where the
previous manager had pretty much no relationship with
the players and had lost 4-0 to Barça. Confidence was low
and there was no real prospect of a trophy. It was the last
card the president had left to play and now look at them.” An
introvert, common consensus had it that a lack of communication
would be one of Zidane’s big problems. He hadn’t given a single
press conference as Castilla boss, because third-tier rules don’t
require it. “When the cameras are on me, I close up because I
imagine that my family may be watching and that stresses me
out,” he once admitted. And yet Zidane loves talking one-on-
one with his players. In part, it’s a learned behaviour.Above Zizou brought
the happiness back
to Madrid after
“boring” Benitez was
dumped124 The Managers FourFourTwo.comZIDAn E