Even by Real Madrid’s lofty standards, Zinedine Zidane took the world’s richest and most successful football club to new heights. Nine months ago, as head coach of Los Blancos, he won a third successive Champions League title. It was an unparalleled feat in the modern history of the most prestigious competition in the European game.
Then, unexpectedly, from a pedestal of his creation, Mr Zidane quit. The aristocratic Spanish club, which has a sense of entitlement over the sport’s precious silverware, “needs a change”, he said at the time: “I feel it’s going to be difficult to continue winning. And, because I’m a winner, I’m going.”
Mr Zidane has long been a champion. Before his managerial career, a fierce competitive instinct moulded him into the best footballer of his generation, who lifted virtually all the major trophies in the sport. Without him, Real has been losing. In recent weeks, the team was defeated twice by eternal rivals FC Barcelona, ending its hopes of gaining one of Spain’s top titles this season. Worse, the side was knocked out of the Champions League by Dutch team Ajax. These humiliations were witnessed by 80,000 fans in the Bernabéu, Real’s home stadium, supposedly one of football’s impregnable fortresses. Two managers have been fired over this season’s failures.