When Zinedine Zidane was presented as the new head coach of Real Madrid on Monday, it "had the trappings of a coronation" rather than the hiring of a manager, according to Rob Hughes of the N.Y. TIMES. Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez briefly stated that the board had decided to dismiss Rafa Benítez, the outgoing coach whom Perez described as "an absolute professional and a wonderful person." Then, turning to Zidane, Pérez said, "This is your club, this is your stadium. And you have all our support. From this moment, you are the trainer of Madrid. I know that for you the word 'impossible' doesn't exist." The succession "had been brewing from the start" after Benítez replaced Carlo Ancelotti as coach last June. It had "elements of player unrest," but results -- "particularly the 4-0 humiliation of Madrid at its own stadium" in November against Barcelona -- "exacerbated Benítez’s unstable situation." The president "called for calm and patience -- after all, 'Rafa' had only been Madrid’s coach for half a season." But a 1-0 loss to Villarreal in December, followed by a 2-2 tie at Valencia on Sunday, "brought the swift end," and a reported $10M buyout to Benítez. Barcelona won five trophies in '15, and this to some extent is Real Madrid’s "Guardiola moment," a response to when the Catalan club promoted Pep Guardiola, a former player, to coach in '08. Guardiola’s team "won every trophy" in club football, but "more than that, it won in a style that even Madrid can only envy" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/5). REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported Zidane may find that his "successful spell as a Real player may not necessarily help his cause," as AC Milan has shown with its treatment of Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi. Both were given the coaching role at the seven-times European champions "thanks to their distinguished playing careers in Milan, yet Seedorf was fired after six months and Inzaghi after one year." Zidane studied former Argentina and Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa's training techniques when the "eccentric Argentine was at Olympique Marseille" and has watched Guardiola at work with Bayern Munich. Zidane's appointment was "greeted with plenty of scepticism by Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona-based sports daily." It was "gleefully pointed out" that Zidane received 14 red cards during his playing career, under the headline "The Hero of the Ninth (Champions League title) was not such an angel." In a column entitled "Please stay, Florentino," Mundo Deportivo's Francesc Aguilar wrote, "It appears that Florentino Perez wants to imitate Barcelona and he wants the Frenchman to be his own Pep Guardiola. But he forgets one basic thing which is that Pep was considered a coach even in his playing days. He has it in his blood, which is blue and deep red" (REUTERS, 1/5).
PLAYER'S COACH: In London, Paul Hayward reported "some credible witnesses (and others with an agenda) are saying Zidane was appointed because a number of players vetoed Jose Mourinho’s return." To Real’s critics it will appear that the club has "attained the pure narcissistic state it has been hurtling towards over two decades of acute simplification." The "big idea?" Get the world’s "biggest names and lock them into one room." This "top-down theory has been the life’s work" of Pérez, who devised the tactic in his first Bernabeu reign of "throwing a net over the world’s most famous players and letting talent do the rest." And it "worked for a while" (TELEGRAPH, 1/5).
PROVING GROUND: In Madrid, Pablo Pérez wrote "it is Zidane's time." A "little more than a year after beginning his career as a head coach," he replaces Benítez. He will coach the club "despite his scarce experience, something Zidane himself is more than aware of." Zidane said in November of possibly coaching Real Madrid's first team, "Last year I was lacking something and I know that I still lack it. ... A coach is never prepared. I am doing things little by little and I have no rush." Experience aside, he said then that it was a challenge he was "waiting for since last summer." He said, "I would have agreed to replace Ancelotti. I consider myself a professional and I would not have rejected the challenge" (EL PAIS, 1/5). In Barcelona, Manuel Bruña reported Zidane will earn €2.5M ($2.68M) per season in a deal running through the rest of this season and the following two. He will earn half of what Benítez was being paid, "and significantly less than the majority of his players" (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 1/5).
