The day the French Zinedine Zidane returned to the Real Madrid Technical Department in March 2019, he was frank by announcing that regaining the La Liga title is a "priority" for the coming season, and now he is keeping his promise after nearly 16 months.
The Royal Club achieved its 34th title in the "La Liga" and the second under the supervision of Zidane after the first of 2017, by defeating Villarreal 2-1 the day before yesterday, in the 37th penultimate stage of the turbulent season "Covid-19", and losing the defending champion by the same result in front of his guest Osasuna.
The title is the second in the league for Real in the last eight years, and the irony is that they were with the same coach: Zidane, who achieved with Real today his 12th title in various competitions.
After a first period at the head of the training team for the capital club between January 2016 and May 2018, during which he achieved a historic achievement with three consecutive titles in the Champions League, "Zizou" surprised the world of football by announcing his departure from the club.
He said then: "It is time to move forward toward a new challenge." He continued: "I do not see that I will continue to win next year, and I am a winning person and I do not like to lose ... I think it is the right time for everyone, for me, and for the team."
It looked strange after he led the Real in two and a half seasons to nine titles including the Champions League three times in a row, the Spanish League and the Club World Cup twice.
After that, Real Madrid seemed to be lost without him, as the club management headed by Florentino Perez contracted with Gulen Lobetgy, who did not last for more than three months, while his Argentine successor, Santiago Solari, settled for four months, so that Zidane returned to the white castle in the mission of Al-Munqid nearly 10 months after his departure. .
Upon returning, the goal was clear: "Next season, winning (League) will be the priority. "I cannot say we will win it, but we will fight for it until the last breath."
He echoed this with everyone he spoke to, whether he was a player, journalist, or administrator, even during the preparatory period for the season in the United States and Canada tour.
Although the former French international crowned the 1998 World Cup with his country, he won the domestic league title in his first experience with the Spanish capital pole, but today he wins the return bet, by breaking the control of the rival Barcelona and his star Argentine captain Lionel Messi (eight titles in the last 11 years) ).
Despite winning the Champions League 2018 at the expense of Liverpool, Zidane considered that finishing the domestic league in third place, 17 points behind Barcelona, was a failure and was an incentive to avenge his first full season after the return.
French coach: Today I can draw my most beautiful smile
Zinedine Zidane (48 years old) abbreviated the title 2019-2020 with the phrase: "He is the best in my professional career."
"I am the happiest person this evening. I do not express a lot, but inside me I am very happy ... winning the League is very difficult, and I always used to say that we have not won anything yet. ”
He added, "But today, yes, we have won, and I can paint the most beautiful smile for me." It is reported that the goalscoring performance for the riyal is declining this season (68 goals with one stage remaining), but his net received only 23 goals, and no team scored more than two goals in One goal in one game.
He knows the dressing room .. and how the players think
Thanks to Los Blancos winning the League title, Zidane was known for the strength of his team and for his dependence on a homogeneous squad.
The glitter of the stars did not shine like the first period Zidane spent as a white shirt player, but he succeeded in ensuring that his players presented the level and mentality to compete for the title to the end.
The league was suspended in March due to the new Corona virus, and Real was two points behind leaders Barcelona.
But the Royal Club hit hard after the comeback, and it scored 10 wins in 10 games, although not all of them had convincing performance or big results.
Even during the first period full of titles, Zidane did not escape criticism from commentators, some of whom considered that he was not tactically successful, but rather a good leader of a group of stars.
"I am not the best tactical coach, but I have other things ... I know the dressing room very well, and I know how the players think, and this is important to me," admitted before the Champions League final in Kiev 2018.
- Lobetgy lasted no more than 3 months, and Solari settled for 4 months, so Zidane returned to crown Real.
- "Zizou" put the "League" a priority before him, and he led the "Royal" to achieve an important achievement.