“I remember the smile on his face when I used to say some words
in Arabic to him,” explains Campos, who spent years working in the
Middle East before becoming Madrid’s assistant boss. “It brought
him back to his Arabic roots. Far away from Algeria, he had a friend to
talk to in his mother-tongue. It brought us closer together.”
Zidane’s relationship with Karim Benzema is predicated on a similar
rapport – both of Algerian descent, both introverts, both family men.
“He gives me everything,” Madrid’s revitalised striker has said of his
manager and mentor. “He wants me to do well. He may not talk very
much, but his words are certain and before every game he usually says
something that makes me feel good.”
When Benzema says his manager doesn’t talk much, he’s not joking.
Team talks are usually restricted to two (a maximum of three) tactical
points, because Zizou believes players aren’t capable of remembering
more once the match has kicked off.
“The most important thing is the message you transfer to players,”
Zidane claimed earlier this year in an interview with Mexican television.
“I want there to be few instructions to the group. They’re professionals
and they know how to play. You keep things simple.”
Ultimately, Zidane trusts his players and is merely tuning into what
he appreciated most from his coaches in his career.
“If you’ve got a happy Real Madrid dressing room,” says the former
Castilla defender Derik, who regularly attended first-team training in
his final three years with Los Blancos, “that means you’re a very good
coach, because it’s not easy to keep so many big-name players happy.
“Results follow on from that. Every time they play, you see a united
team which plays for its manager. He’d always talk one-on-one with
his players and, given the great player that he was, you can’t help but
listen to what advice he has to say. There’s no one better than
Zinedine Zidane to explain what you’re doing well and what you’re
doing badly.”
Therein lies Zizou’s other greatest strength. He may choose to swerve
questions about his illustrious playing days at every opportunity, but
who he is matters. One of the reasons why Benitez so alienated Real’s
dressing room was because he tried to teach Cristiano Ronaldo et al
how to strike the ball at a free-kick, despite the Newcastle manager’s
modest playing career. The four-time Ballon d’Or winner met this kind
of interference with great resentment.
Zidane instead challenged the Portuguese star to a training ground
competition: a line of balls placed 20 yards from the goal, an inflatable
wall and a goalkeeper – Zidane won.
“He was a better technical footballer than any of us,” Chelsea striker
Alvaro Morata, who played under Zidane in last season’s historic Real
double, tells FFT. “He could still be playing now, I’m certain of that. He
would join in with the rondos or cross balls into the penalty area
when we were doing shooting practice and they’d all be perfect. All of
those things make you want to impress him.
“His name alone carried such weight in the squad,” Morata adds.
“He is one of the best players in history and that means when you
become a coach, you have that added respect because of what you
achieved as a player. He talks to you, he listens. That’s his greatest
strength and it tells you what sort of person he is.”
PUTTIn G THE En GIn E BACK In THE BEn TLEY
Those early months weren’t without their teething problems,
however. Given a tactical lesson by Diego Simeone during a 1-0 derby
defeat to Atletico Madrid in late February 2016, Zizou turned to a
player who had come to represent Rafa’s stodgy team.
Casemiro is a no-frills defensive midfielder in the Claude Makelele
role. So much criticism did Benitez receive for playing the Brazilian,
he felt compelled to play Luka Modric and Toni Kroos as defensive
midfielders in Real Madrid’s 4-0 Clasico humbling.
Yet in losing to Atletico, Zidane went back to Casemiro, and a 4-3-3,
to shore up his defence. He persuaded president Perez it was a
necessary move to allow Ronaldo, Benzema, Modric and Gareth Bale
to prosper.
“Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are
losing the entire engine?” Zidane had famously said when Perez sold
Makelele to Chelsea and replaced him with David Beckham in 2003,
as the original Galacticos policy imploded. It took Perez 13 years, and
a reminder from Zidane, to take note.
“ THEY Kn OW HOW
TO PLAY. YOU KEEP
THIn GS SIMPLE”
FourFourTwo.com The Managers 125ZIDAn E