• Opinion: Zidane, the flower and thistle

After the hit of Paris, top of a summer marked by the win in that friendly against Atlético, in the offices of the Bernabéu the classic of October 26 was marked as perhaps definitive exam for Zidane. A bad afternoon before the maximum rival could be his end on the bench, as happened a year ago to Lopetegui . The CDR loaded the great game of LaLiga, but this does not prevent the week comes with curves for the French, ahead of his trial tomorrow in Istanbul. If he loses Madrid again, his position would be in real danger, with José Mourinho as the first candidate to relieve him and Massimiliano Allegri , also on Manchester's radar, as a more peaceful alternative.

In the city of the two continents it will be the next Champions League final, on May 30, a very distant destination right now for whites. His urgent mission in the Türk Telekom Arena is another. It's about surviving in the competition that dominated with power until recently. With only one point in two days, the duel against Galatasaray is presented without a net. A defeat would be catastrophic, leaving its classification for the eighth at the expense of others, with the jaws of the Europa League in the background. A consolation tournament that if for most of the giants of Europe is a penance, for its historical king it would directly taste like humiliation.

The draw tomorrow, if Bruges meets the forecasts and loses with the PSG, it would still give him room. And a victory would clear the horizon in the group stage, provided that in two weeks he beat the Turks again at the Bernabéu. That is, the accounts still go to Madrid to save the initial league, something that never failed. Not forgetting, in addition, that if there is a territory where fate smiled at Zidane, that was the Champions League .

Top concern

The problem is not mathematics, but the sensations that the team has been transmitting for months. At the depressing end of last season, where not even the arrival of Zidane managed to change the dynamics, there has been a start of course full of doubts. That of Mallorca was the first defeat of Madrid in LaLiga, but in almost every day he has suffered, even in games that had the score very on track.

His leadership, favored by the bad passage of Barcelona , was a balm that did not hide the structural tremors, with fissures in all the lines; of the goal, with a Courtois far from its best version, to the front, where nostalgia for Cristiano continues to weigh. It costs the goal, much more if, as in Son Moix, chances are not even generated. "That's impossible," ZZ sighed after falling against a newly promoted team, which only needed to put intensity and shoot once between the three white sticks. Enough; 1-0 and Madrid return to the square of disgust and mistrust, the worst clothing to travel to the momentous appointment in Istanbul. Yesterday he played a hangover Sunday at the club, with the debate about the coach on the table.

The dashboard sees a team without proper physical preparation, crushed by muscle injuries and with signings that do not add up. A Madrid without solidity that ends up missing players who, a few months ago, considered themselves depreciated, like Gareth Bale. Also to Modric or Kroos, for their bad previous campaign. The three were missing in Mallorca ( the Croatian and the Welsh will not be in Istanbul either ).

It was James , another footballer who was about to go out in summer, the most incisive, while Zidane's personal bets failed again. Jovic, an express request of his, went through the game almost without going on television. Yes they focused on Isco, to verify that his performance is still far from what the center of the Madrid field demands

Zidane bets

Faith in Malaga, in its current version, squeaks in the direction of the club, where Vinicius is also looked at with concern. It is not taking the expected quality leap, in a stalemate that is also partly blamed on the technician. All these factors can form the perfect storm against Zidane, if Madrid falls again tomorrow. His dismissal is no taboo within the club, despite the tear that would cause the hasty departure of a legend like him, protagonist of the second best stage in the history of the entity. It would be a painful trance that, if the team does not wake up, Florentino Pérez and José Ángel Sánchez, president and CEO, assume that they would have to face.

In that negative scenario, that of the defeat in Turkey, the future of ZZ would be questioned, almost without credit and with many days without games, for the suspension of the classic. In the crisis cabinet, on the table a name known as a possible solution to give a new message, to shake the depressed atmosphere of the team: Mourinho . His friends in Spain say he is looking forward to the challenge and would arrive less belligerent. But in Madrid they would like him as he is, not decaffeinated. With all the consequences.

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Know more

  • Thibaut Courtois
  • Luka modric
  • Gareth Bale
  • Isco Alarcón
  • Jose Mourinho
  • Luka Jovic
  • Champions League
  • First division
  • sports

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