Zidane has seven lives

“It is said that I stake my future … But it was also said a year ago, in my first stage …”. In this way, between resigned (by the critics) and confident, Zidane responded in the previous one of the Classic when asked about his situation after the defeats suffered by Madrid against Cádiz (0-1) and Shakhtar (2-3) in Valdebebas. The Frenchman appeared at the Camp Nou under threat and came out of it with a 1-3 and strengthened. In extreme situations, as happened in his player stage, he always finds clear paths. This Saturday he did it again. After two disastrous Madrid games, without defense or attitude, which undermined a good part of the trust he had placed in the coach, the team recovered its seriousness and solidarity in Barcelona. Zizou he hugged his players and they responded to him. It is not the first time that the Marseillais has swerved and returns the car to the road.

Last season he was already able to resolve several 'mini crises'. LaLiga started irregularly (two draws and two wins), but the overwhelming defeat (3-0) against PSG signaled him. Not even the credit of his record prevented him from flying over Mourinho's name. He evaporated the shadow of the Portuguese by beating Sevilla and Osasuna and with a good game against Atleti (0-0). But another setback in the Champions League (2-2 against Bruges) and the shipwreck in Mallorca (1-0) put him on the wire. Ramos came out to defend him in that critical period (“There are different yardsticks. It would be easy to say that Zidane will continue until the end of the season and there would be no debates. He deserves respect”). However, Zizou survived that, the team was revitalized supported by great defensive security, Benzema's goal and the leadership of Ramos himself and ended up winning the league title.

A first stage with many curves

In his first stage, Zidane also dressed in TEDAX, defused several ‘bombs’ and ended up becoming the most awarded coach in the recent history of Madrid (he won three European Cups in a row, nine titles out of 13 possible). As soon as he landed on the bench, in January 2016, he knew how to revive a lost squad (third to four points behind Barça, leader). Matchday 26 was his first big corner. Atlético beat Madrid at home with a goal from Griezmann (0-1) and enormous tactical superiority. Florentino heard cries of “resign!” and the team moved away 12 points from Barça. “In a match like this, you had to do more: run more, put your leg in more …”. This public slap on the wrist was an electroshock. Madrid won all the games that remained in LaLiga and brushed the title by cutting 11 points from Barça in just four days. In the middle of that escalation, Zidane also came out alive from a fire in the Champions League. Madrid fell 2-0 in Wolfsburg, in the first leg of the quarterfinals, but Cristiano was their extinguisher: he rescued the team with a hat-trick (3-0) that put Madrid in the semifinals of a Champions League that he ended up raising..

In the 2016-17, season in which Madrid won the League and the Champions League, the word crisis also haunted the Bernabéu. After winning the European Super Cup against Sevilla and winning in the first four days of the League, the team skidded and had four draws in the next four games (against Villarreal, Las Palmas and Eibar in the League, and against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League). This valley in the championship made Madrid give up the lead. “I am not going to lose my papers,” he even said. The squad flew up and the Bernabéu Museum arrived in the 33rd League, the Club World Cup and the Twelfth European Cup.

But it was in the 2017-18, the last season of its first stage, when it suffered more earthquakes. . The squad lost their tone, said goodbye to LaLiga in December (they finished 17 points behind Barça) and were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Cup against Leganés (1-2), one of the defeats that have hurt Zidane the most in his career. That put into his head the idea that perhaps it was best to take a step to the side, he sensed that his speech no longer worked. But instead of twisting his face, the Frenchman again found a space among so many confused clouds, He trusted his old guard, focused on the Champions League and ended up winning the Thirteenth. Every lost ball, Zidane picks it up and redirects the situation. Like the one Roberto Carlos sent him in Glasgow and ended with a wonderful volley that gave the Ninth. Like the one he controlled again this Saturday at the Camp Nou.