Champions League: Zinédine Zidane, more than ever in the game?
Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid coach.
GABRIEL BOUYS AFP / File
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
5 mins
Back in the semi-finals of the Champions League after dismissing Liverpool, Zidane and his Real Madrid overcame injuries and pitfalls to renew the thread of a long love affair.
Tuesday April 27, the Madrilenians face the Chelsea of Thomas Tuchel in the last four.
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“
Zizou was the best player I have trained with and played with.
And now he becomes a coach and wins three Champions Leagues in a row.
So today I ask myself: who is the best?
The player Zidane or the coach Zidane?
I am unable to answer,
”admitted the Brazilian genius Ronaldo.
Can Zinedine Zidane conquer Europe again?
In 2018, After a brilliant first coaching experience for Real, Zinédine Zidane left to everyone's surprise, 5 days after winning a third Champions League (C1) in a row. On March 11, 2019, Zizou returned. For the 2019/2020 season Zidane received a prestigious award, that of best coach of La Liga version, the Miguel Munoz trophy which he had never won before. In 2017, the technician was named best coach of the year by Fifa, becoming the first Ballon d'Or (1998) to obtain this title.
In this spring of 2021, can Zinédine Zidane conquer Europe again?
Last season, the Madrilenians were taken out by Manchester City in the round of 16.
That's four qualifiers for the last four of C1 in five appearances for Zidane, who also won 14 of his 15 double knockout matches in C1.
And this is the ninth semi-final in the last eleven seasons for Real, who won the supreme title with Zidane as assistant coach in 2014 with Carlo Ancelotti and then three times in a row as main technician (2016, 2017, 2018) .
"
I'm not the best, that's for sure, but I love what I do
"
"ZZ" knows the road to follow that leads to glory. And this, despite a summer preparation truncated by the coronavirus pandemic, cascading injuries that have greatly affected its executives (Hazard, Ramos, Varane, Benzema ...) and a sawtooth course in the championship and C1. But Zidane's “White House” still stands. However, the group stage was not a long calm river for the 1998 world champion who suffered a setback against Shakhtar Donetsk (two defeats) and harsh criticism from the Spanish press. The sports newspaper
Mundo Deportivo
, for its part, had the headline: "
From bad to worse
". Beaten in the first leg at home (3-2),
Zinedine Zidane's troupe
had been unable to tell the difference in Kiev
(2-0)
.
After beating Barcelona in the clasico and then qualifying Real Madrid for the semi-finals of the Champions League,
Zinédine Zidane
felt he was not such a
"
disastrous
"
coach
.
"
I'm not the best, that's for sure, but I like what I do,
" said the French technician.
In the fight to keep the La Liga title, the team is ready to host Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea in the C1 semi-final first leg on Tuesday April 27 (return May 5).
Finally a victory against Tuchel?
To afford the last four, Zidane managed, among other things, to put back on his feet a defense diminished by the absences of captain Sergio Ramos (left calf and Covid-19), Raphaël Varane (Covid-19) and Dani Carvajal (thigh right), that we could see all three against Chelsea.
Without them, the usual Nacho and Eder Militao liners provided the defensive seal against Liverpool.
And Zidane also took his time with the young Brazilian talent Vinicius, 20, often criticized by the Spanish media.
And his frame Karim Benzema walks on the water.
"
There are not many players who are able to control the ball as he does, to make others play and especially not to lose the ball
Zidane told RMC after qualifying against Atalanta Bergamo in the round of 16.
Chelsea, which has also had its ups and downs this season and who has regained stability with Thomas Tuchel, after his ouster from Paris Saint-Germain at the end of 2020, will be a major test for Zidane.
Because in four confrontations, the former Juventus player who became king of the bench has never yet beaten a Tuchel team!
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