Zidane is a specialist in motivating his staff when facing the decisive phase of the season. He showed it in the three consecutive Champions, in the League achieved in 2016-17 and also in his debut as coach of the first team, in 2015-16. That course he closed by lifting his first European Cup as a coach, but that did not prevent him from demanding Barcelona until the end in a League that got very uphill.
The Frenchman replaced Rafa Benítez on Matchday 18, with Madrid third to five points from Barcelona and four from Atlético. Things got even worse in his first months, because the whites finished the day 26 to 12 points from Barça after falling defeated in the derby against Atleti at the Bernabéu (0-1).
Still alive in the Champions League and with the league championship almost impossible, it was difficult to motivate the players not to let go in the domestic competition. Zidane did it. A reaction built on a key decision: give Casemiro the ownership. Since the Brazilian became indisputable, the team took off. It started with a victory against Levante at Ciutat (1-3) and eleven more followed: Celta (7-1), Las Palmas (1-2), Seville (4-0), Barcelona (1-2), Eibar (4-0), Getafe (1-5), Villarreal (3-0), Rayo (2-3), Real Sociedad (0-1), Valencia (3-2) and Deportivo (0-2). In these 12 consecutive wins, Zidane's registered a spectacular balance of 39 goals for and only nine against.
This spectacular streak did not help Real Madrid to win LaLiga, although they demanded Barcelona until the last day. They closed the championship to a single point of the blaugrana despite the distance it had been 12 at the beginning of the 27th day.
This championship final caused Zidane to start linking his name to records from the start. It was the best streak of a rookie coach in the league, equaling Pellegrini and beating Tito Vilanova (11), Juande Ramos and Guardiola (10).
He closed his first league as coach of Madrid with a total balance of 53 points out of 60 possible, with 17 wins, two draws and only one defeat (63 goals for and 16 against). In those 20 days he was the best team …