Zidane, who will be out for COVID against Alavés, is experiencing one of his most complicated seasons at Real Madrid. The coach has always known how to get out of the crises he has had throughout his two stages on the white bench, although he has rarely been in a situation as delicate as the current one.
Youth management
At this point the biggest fracture appears right now between the club and the coach. There are more and more voices within the entity that question the French's management of young people. Odegaard's is just the latest example in a long list in which Reguilón, Ceballos, Jovic and Brahim appear, among others. All of them footballers that the club considers strategic but who have been forced to pack because Zizou did not have them. Apart from those who have left, in the squad there are others like Vinicius, Militao or Rodrygo who have also gone through periods in which their usual place has been on the bench. That causes a loss of confidence in players who need to grow with minutes, while Zidane insists on the old guard: Marcelo, Lucas Vázquez, Isco … Some think that the club is going in one direction and the coach in another.
Renovations
It can be linked to the previous point, because Zidane publicly insists on pressuring the club to renew Modric, Sergio Ramos and Lucas Vázquez, the three players who end their contract at the end of the season. With the Croatian the agreement is approved, while with the captain a long negotiation is expected because Madrid is only willing to offer him one year. In the case of Lucas Vázquez, the club does not understand Zizou's public insistence that he continue. His performance and professionalism during these years have been impeccable, but they consider that at 29 years old he is covering the place of players like Rodrygo, Vinicius or Brahim, who are the ones who should give Madrid a leap in quality in the future.
Valverde and Vinicius
Within the lack of confidence in young people, these two cases are of particular concern at the club. There are other players like Odriozola, Militao or Jovic who did not take advantage of their opportunities. However, both Valverde and Vinicius have left great performances recently. For this reason, it is not understood that Zidane does not insist with them to give minutes to veterans such as Isco or Lucas Vázquez, who are close to finishing their stage in Madrid. Now the Uruguayan has been injured again, but this season he has not had the prominence of the previous one. The Brazilian, for his part, has lost confidence in his game since Zidane sentenced him to the bench, after being decisive in several games this season.
Mariano
Zidane has a ballot with Mariano. Since he returned to the white bench almost two years ago, he told the club that he did not have him. For this reason, a way out has been sought in each market, but the forward has refused to go out because he believed that sooner or later his opportunity would come. In the end, time has proved him right. He started the season as a front quarter (behind Benzema, Mayoral and Jovic). First it was that of Parla who left for Rome when he could not find a loan for Jovic in the summer. Now, in winter, the Serbian has returned to Eintracht. Mariano has gone from not having a place even in the calls to the first relief of Benzema. The youth squad knows that Zidane does not have him, but the Frenchman will have to be fair to Mariano and give him the opportunities he deserves because right now he has no other option after giving the green light to Jovic's departure.
Isco
The man from Malaga asked to leave in winter but Madrid did not allow it. Everything indicates that, with a contract until 2022, his white stage will end in summer. But first Zidane needs to plug him in for the final stretch of this season, especially if Odegaard ends up leaving. The center of the field is the area where the least effective has and must have the Malaga player in important matches, even though he knows that they are probably his last months at the club.
His trident
On his return to the bench, Zizou drew an offensive trident in his head that allowed him not to miss Cristiano: Hazard, Benzema and Asensio. That idea was soon truncated, with the long-term injury of the Balearic. Later, it was the Belgian's physical problems that did not allow it. Now Asensio has returned to his best level and Zidane's challenge is to make Hazard finally look like the player he was at Chelsea in Madrid. Whether he succeeds or not will depend on a large part of the team's options to finish the season with a title …