Real Madrid won the 33rd La Liga title on Sunday against Málaga at La Rosaleda (0-2) thanks to the goals scored by Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. It was a suffered trophy, conquered after four seasons of drought in this competition. Everybody was very important, but the key responsible was Zinedine Zidane, a happy man.
Zizou arrived to the bench in January of 2016. He’s won the Champions League, the European Supercup, the FIFA Club World Cup and La Liga. Another European trophy could arrive on the 3rd of June. But even more important than the trophies, Zidane has brought happiness, calm and a project to the chaos of the last years in the Bernabéu stadium.
A lot of people didn’t trust Zizou because he didn’t have any experience in a top level club and he had a good relationship with the players. He has been heavy criticized for smiling during the press conferences. Mourinho or Benítez acid style was preferred because they made the players worked harder. But Real Madrid is not a club of coaches, but a club of players. And Zidane knows it very well after winning his Champions League dressed in white in 2002.
Besides, he’s made a lot of right choices during the season. First of all, he’s given confidence to all the players in the squad. “Everybody is important”. And he meant it when 20 footballers played more than 1000 minutes in La Liga and 19 of them were able to score at least one goal during the season in the Spanish tournament.
As a consequence of this, the stars are arriving much better to the end of the season than in previous years. Cristiano Ronaldo made the difference in the last month of competition, whereas Luka Modric or Toni Kroos are showing again a great level in the midfield.
He has also handled very well the youngsters in the team. Marco Asensio has step up the whole ladder in his first season with Los Blancos and now he’s able to lead the team in the next season. Lucas Vázquez, Isco or Morata have also shown a great level when they come up from the bench, although the last two of them could have deserved more minutes during the season.
Zidane has also given confidence to Keylor Navas and Karim Benzema, two players who have been under heavy criticism. Both of them are finishing the season with a great level, with very important performances in the Champions League and La Liga. The French coach has also been able to convince James Rodríguez of his secondary role, and the Colombian playmaker had made the difference in the last games of the season, scoring 7 important goals.
The 33rd title will be remember as the trophy of the team, more than from a specific player. For this reason, this is the triumph of the coach, Zinedine Zidane, who is learning game by game, gaining experience. The next challenge is winning the double and lifting back-to-back Champions League trophies. No one has done it yet. Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid are in their way to make history.
