“The reality is that there are six games left, 18 points. Mathematically, until you are champion, you cannot say anything, you have to play and respect the rival. We are fine, we must continue, we must continue, but the rivals are always there and they will do everything possible to win, until the end. No confidence, nothing to say that this is over. Not at all, not at all “. This is how Zidane answered a question about whether Barcelona's punctures against Seville, Celta and Atlético and the general perception that Madrid has made the League could induce relaxation in Real Madrid's dressing room; the French, a naturally relaxed man, sounded especially vehement.
And in fact, when the press officer was preparing to give the following turn to speak at one of the usual telematic press conferences, Zidane interrupted him to add, invaded by memories of the past: “And I say more, I have lived it as a player, this situation. I speak of something I have lived, of my experience. The players know it, that we have not won anythingAbsolutely nothing. “Zidane's record has countless lights, but also some shadow that surely prompted him to make this reflection. Specifically, there are two league debacles in his history as a player from which he learned a valuable lesson for these moments.
Zidane falls, Simeone wins
In May 2000, Zidane was still displaying his magic in Italy, wearing the colors of Juventus Turin. The president of Real Madrid was still Lorenzo Sanz, although Florentino had barely two months to reach the presidency, with Figo by the hand and with the promise, also, of incorporating the Frenchman into the white ranks. He would not make it that summer, but the next, that of 2001. They were years of enormous dominance by Juventus in Italy, although battling with powerful rivals: the Milan of Shevchenko and Maldini, the Inter of Ronaldo, Vieri and Zamorano … and the Lazio forged by check with Mihajlovic, Nesta, Nedved, Simeone, Verón or Boksic.
In a Serie A then of 18 teams and with 34 games, the advantage in Juventus in 31 was five points over Lazio, greater than the present of Madrid, even in case they beat Getafe this Sunday. La Vecchia Signora hesitated and reached the last day with only two points of advantage, earning him the tie to be champion. And there the disaster was consummated: Lazio did their homework, beating Reggina 3-0 in Rome (goals from Inzaghi, Verón and Simeone) and Juventus succumbed to a mid-table team like Perugia (1-0), then in their ranks with a very young Materazzi; Zidane played 90 minutes of that disaster that Cholo treasures as one of the main examples that, in football, there are no absolute truths.
The Montjüic Galacticide
Zidane's other debacle in the League is much better known to the Spanish fans and specifically to the Real Madrid fans, since it happened with Zizou already wearing white and having already conquered the 2002 Champions League, with that immortal volley. If that of Juventus in 2000 was a slow death, confirmed by a final blow, that of Madrid in 2003-04 by Carlos Queiroz was a complete fading, mainly caused by the defeat in the Copa del Rey final against Zaragoza in Barcelona, with that goal from Galletti.
Zidane, during the 2003-04 Cup final.
REUTERS
After that, the Whites gave in to Monaco in the Champions League quarterfinals and lost seven of the last ten League matches. A team that looked like it was thrown for the triplet stayed at zero. Ten days from the end, Madrid led Valencia by four points and was the leader; at the end of the championship, the whites finished fourth, seven points behind the champion che and below also from Barcelona and Deportivo. That match in Montjüic against Zaragoza, became known as 'El Galacticidio'.