Zidane was the preferred

While Zidane peeled off the margarita before announcing whether or not he was still at Real Madrid (something he did on Wednesday, communicating it to the club and the squad), the Madrid dressing room was positioning itself in the previous days in relation to what has ended up being the second time that it loses the Marseille coach, after his departure in 2018, after the final in Kiev. The conclusion was clear: the squad, at least in the statements made by their heavyweightsHe wanted Zidane to continue at Madrid.

The bond that Zizou has formed with this group of players has gone on for several years and has generated affective relationships that are now emerging. Not in vain, his ability to appease the egos of the locker room was always commented as the great virtue of Zidane as a coach and to make players feel comfortable in team dynamics. That, to a large extent, has been fulfilled. Of the current Madrid squad, they have been with Zidane since Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Nacho, Marcelo, Kroos, Modric, Casemiro, Isco, Benzema and Lucas arrived in January 2016. (Practically also Asensio, who in 2015-16 played on loan at Espanyol on loan from Madrid).

And from that block, three players have come out to give their version in recent weeks about how Zidane's departure would affect Madrid, which is already a fact: Kroos, Benzema and Nacho. They were messages for the coach, not for the club; Madrid wanted Zidane to fulfill his contract and stay (He had until June 2022), it was Marseille who had doubts and was considering making a new break after a difficult season, a position that has finally been imposed.

“It was said, even in Germany, that he had already told the players that he was leaving. And that's a lie. He and I have a relationship, if he were going to leave he would have told me. I don't know what will happen in the future, but I can say that working with Zidane is fun, “Kroos recently commented on the podcast he shares with his brother Felix. Nacho, for his part, commented on the news that he had moved his decision after the victory against Athletic in San Mamés: “The coach has a contract and is fine with us. It is a decision that he and the club will make.”

One of the players with whom Zidane was more attuned in the dressing room is Benzema, for obvious reasons: both are French and have a way of understanding football, with efficiency and aesthetics working side by side, which has allowed them to develop a close relationship. Zidane always defended Benzema, even when his figures showed that he had to go to the bench. In a recent interview with 'L'Equipe', after his return to the France team was official, Benzema returned the praise to Zidane.

“I don't see that he's going away, he's not going away, you'll see. And if he leaves … For now, I don't see Madrid without Zidane. He has always been sincere with me, and very close. When things are going well he tells me; when they don't go well, he also tells me. He is always very open, in training and in games. That gives me a lot of confidence on the pitch, that's why I respect him so much. He is my coach, but he is like my older brother. He has always supported me and helped me improve “, Benzema explained in 'L'Equipe'. However, the desire of the three that he stay has been in borage water: it has been consummated that Zidane leaves the bench.

The second line, waiting

Of course, there is a second line of players at Real Madrid to whom the departure of Zidane and the arrival of a new coach will help them to have a new opportunity as white; Zidane, despite the fact that the silk glove works more than the iron hand, has also generated some antipathies within the booth. In that block of footballers the Bale, Isco, Ceballos, Jovic, Odegaard or Mariano would enter. Even Vinicius, who this season has enjoyed many minutes, but with whom Zidane has always shown a certain distance and not too much passion for his game.

Some for purely sporting reasons (Odegaard, Mariano or Jovic), others for more direct confrontations with Zizou (Bale, Ceballos and even Isco, which the cameras caught him cracking from the French); they all know that a new coach who makes a clean slate is a golden opportunity to rewrite their respective stories at Madrid. But they were the least, the hard core of the white wardrobe was with Zizou.

Unanimity in networks

What has been massive and almost unanimous are the messages on social networks from the Real Madrid footballers saying goodbye to the Madrid coach, once his second stage on the white bench has ended.

Messages that show the ancestry that Zidane had on the white dressing room, already in his first stage and now in the second, also when he was second to Ancelotti in 2013-14, with a very interventionist profile and a lot of contact with the footballers in the day to day.