Zinedine Zidane’s work as coach of Real Madrid has been praised in England, note Diario AS. BT Sport’s Rio Ferdinand and Steve McManaman, the latter formerly a Madridista himself, spoke bluntly about the French coach and elevated him to the status of one of the top coaches in the game. The Champions League tie against Liverpool, for them, has crystallised the fact he deserves more praise than he gets.
“The guy has incredible ability,” Ferdinand said. “He’s done it in a short time. He’s come in and collected trophy after trophy. Three Champions League titles as a coach? He’s phenomenal. He doesn’t have much to say, but he’s never had much to say as a player. He lets his football speak, and he’s doing the same as a coach.”
McManaman was similarly effusive in his praise. “He’s done an incredible job,” he said. “If he were any other coach, we’d be exhausted from applauding him. The fact that he’s so great, the fact he doesn’t want applause, the fact he’s nice and laid-back, people don’t think he’s a tactical genius, but he really is.”
Madrid are dreaming of a double 44 days before the end of the season. Zidane’s men are just eleven games, eight in La Liga and three in the Champions League, away from the two titles. It’s been a goal that’s kept the team motivated and focused despite the physical pressure they’ve been put under in recent weeks due to their injury crisis. This past week has given them the belief that they can finish the season with strength. The beat Barcelona in El Clasico before eliminating Liverpool from the Champions League, setting them up nicely ahead of the run-in.
Yes, Madrid’s and Zidane’s tactical genius are the referees. It’s easy to beat Barca on Camp Nou in late 2020 with a PK gifted by a well-known Madrid fan whose father founded the RM fan club in Benidorm, after it was Ramos who first pulled Lenglet’s shirt repeatedly, fact indicated by one of the linesman but ignored by the RM fan with the whistle. It’s easy to beat Liverpool last week when the RM rigthback takes the striker down as the last defender, but doesn’t see the red card – the same referee who expelled Cuadrado in the 2017 UCL final when he tried to get the ball from Ramos who was wasting time to prevent Juve to quickly take a throw-in. It was easy for Madrid to beat Barca a few days ago when the ref refused to consult VAR for potential PKs, one clear PK confirmed by a former La Liga ref in Marca or AS, Madrid media outlets, and when Casemiro ended up playing for free for most of one half for the nth time in a Barca game, seeing his first yellow after 2 or 3 dirty tackles that went unpunished with the deserved yellow card, while Barca’s Pedri and Mingueza were promptly shown the yellow card at their first offense. It is easy to beat Liverpool in the UCL final when the Turkish ref allowed Ramos to take Salah out with a judo / jiu jitsu procedure, and then allowed the same ramos to go unpunished for landing an elbow in the Liverpool goalie’s head, practically taking him out of the game with a technical KO – ramos should have been expelled twice in that game alone, but no, Zidane is a genius…
… say Ferdinand, one of the most rudimentary center backs ever, and McManaman, one of the most overrated players ever, and who, let’s not forget, was a Real Madrid employee, and a very forgettable one at that … I don’t expect any serious tactical analysis coming from these two, or from anyone involved in the so-called English soccer which would be left with a bunch of homegrown glorified rednecks hoofing the ball and breaking each other’s legs should one take out the billions flowing in from the likes of Abramovich and the Gulf countries sheiks born on pockets of oil, the Peps, the Klopps, the De Bruynes, the Aguarros, the Salahs
Zidane est un meilleur entraîneur le Real joue un fotbal grnial
Somebody is very angry…
Please respect Zidane.. why so much hate?
See beef. My brother acknowledge that real Madrid is not mate with barca nor Liverpool at the moment
Spot on but please keep quiet. just watch how genius Zidane takes them to finals and may be win it too.
You need to keenly watch the games to understand how refs ignore minor issues to help frustrate opponent teams. Ignore most fouls.. That’s how real win… But Zidane is genius.
You must be a Barca fan! Body dey pepper u
What, again with the excuses. Hehe. Butt hurt huh? I dont blame you, you suppose to feel that way. Another example of a “got served” person for only have the ability to see things in a “what if” perspective.
I though zizu was great with coaching, but listn to the comment by the greats, I now know zizu n ronaldo has been favoured by the powers controlling football.
You must be a Barca fan! Body dey pepper u