Zinedine Zidane's open letter to Real Madrid published exclusively this Monday by Diario AS reflects a season of convulsions, chiaroscuro and situations that the French coach suffered as never before until he made the decision to leave Real Madrid. The Marseille genius never imagined at the start of the season last September that he would voluntarily advance the settlement of his contract, which ended in 2022. He began the course with the endorsement of having conquered League 34 two months before, the one baptized as that of the coronavirus . A title that fully filled the Frenchman given the adversities his group had suffered, like the rest of the team, due to confinement. He sent the message to his men that each game was a final and that they would thus win the League against a Barça that returned from the confinement with a slight advantage. With that philosophy he shielded the team in defense and they won 10 games in a row, which allowed them to sing alirón against Villarreal in the scenic silence of Di Stéfano. All happy with their work: president, board of directors and fans. And the Press, surrendered to its charisma and its turnover in the form of titles: 11, only three of the legend Miguel Muñoz.
But in Madrid they are conquered and forgotten as soon as the ball starts rolling. The economic crisis due to the pandemic made the club tell the coach that there was going to be no spending on transfers. So Zizou He personally called Odegaard to convince him to return from his successful assignment in San Sebastián. It was the only novelty of the squad. And there he started as a starter on the first day of the League, drawing without goals and playing in the last minutes with Marvin and Arribas, which was considered a message to the noble floor due to the lack of reinforcements. There the tensions began. These escalated with the bulky defeat in Valdebebas against Shakhtar (0-3), the theoretical cinderella of his group, and the one suffered at home against Cádiz (0-1). Zidane was blamed for lining up Marcelo or Isco, two players in clear decline and in poor physical shape. He already felt questioned.
The clear triumph in the Classic at the Camp Nou (1-3) calmed the waters, but they were again turbulent after the bulky defeat at Mestalla against Valencia (yes, suffering an infamous refereeing with four penalties indicated against, a record number ) and the half puncture against Borussia Mönchengladbach at home, saving a point when seven minutes away the whites lost 2-0 and the shadow of the Europa League loomed over their heads. To make matters worse, at the end of November he fell at the Di Stéfano against Alavés (1-2), with another controversial refereeing for the two unmarked penalties on Marcelo and Hazard. The Atleti escaped in the classification and the critics insisted that Zidane did not lead a group that seemed adrift. That's where the usual Zidane burst in. He managed to win the two decisive Champions League games against Inter de Conte (curious that Madrid now want the Italian!) And managed to make his squad cling to his charisma so as not to throw in the towel. But in the winter market he lost two pieces, Jovic and Odegaard, which thinned the depth of his wardrobe.
In January everything exploded. Alcoyano gave the surprise of the Cup eliminated a stupid Madrid (Isco and Marcelo were singled out again) and shortly after, Levante defeated the League champion in Valdebebas. It seemed all lost again. And Zidane was absent for two weeks for testing positive for COVID-19. Those two weeks served him to reflect outside the stress of daily work and that gave him strength to return for the trip to Huesca with a press conference where he vindicated his people: “We are still the champions. Let us work, I only ask that… ”. The fracture with the club was already open, since unofficially he was never sought a replacement, but substitutes were circulated in the media (Mourinho's name reappeared) before whom no one said anything within the entity, not even a message of public support. Zidane did not feel supported in his moment of greatest weakness.
And again Zinedine worked the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He reactivated his troops despite the plague of muscle injuries and COVID, rescued his best version of his luxury trio (Casemiro-Kroos-Modric), invented an imperial central duo with Nacho and Militao (due to the absences of Ramos and Varane ), managed to make Lucas Vázquez the best wing back in the League until his clash with Busquets in the Classical knocked him out of the season, he finally gave continuity to Vinicius (the Brazilian restored his confidence by being the hero in the first leg against Liverpool) and Benzema rose as the best Karim ever being the stiletto of the team at the top. Madrid finished the season with greatness, despite the fact that on the night of Sevilla the arbitration of Munuera and González González (in the VAR) achieved something unprecedented: that Zidane protested at the end of the game to the referee asking for explanations for the decisive penalty called to Militao. Even so, the team stayed alive in the Champions League until the semifinals, after brilliantly eliminating Klopp's Liverpool, and in the League until the last minute, with that last goal by Modric that left the title within a shot of a Valladolid goal. And against Chelsea he was penalized that Ramos, Mendy and Hazard played in physical precariousness, which made him win the criticism of the board at the same London airport on the return. All that, put in the cocktail shaker, led Zidane to say goodbye. The Frenchman who is a Madrid legend and considers that it is not fair that he was questioned every time there were a couple of bad results. This time a third stage in the club of his heart seems difficult.