Football Sports

Zizou, you magnificent Genius.
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It’s been almost two weeks since Real Madrid made history, by being the first team to win the Champions League, in it’s current format back to back. I’ve only just calmed down from my euphoria at how legendary this team is. But for this post I wanted to thank on man in particular: coach Zinedine Zidane.

There’s something about Zidane. I don’t know exactly what that is, but I honestly think he’s especially possessed by the goddess of luck and success. Bixente Lizarazu, his former teammate in Bordeaux and the French national team said as such: “I feel like more than his talent, he was inhabited by something…”

When you look at his career as a player, you easily understand why Lizarazu said what he said. Zizou won absolutely everything as a player. Every trophy, whether individual or collective, he won. National championship? He won the scudetto with Juventus twice, back-to-back, and once with Real Madrid. Champions League? He won it with Real Madrid. World Cup? 1998 world champion with France, and he would’ve won it twice, if it wasn’t for Marco Materazzi’s foul mouth. Euro? He won that in 2000 right after winning the World Cup in 98, another back-to-back. Ballon D’or? After his magical year in 1998, he hoisted the supreme individual title, and he would’ve won it again if it wasn’t for…never mind.

Success just follows him around like he owes it money. It wasn’t enough for him to win either; he also had to shine brightest on the biggest stages he was performing on. He scored two goals in the 98 world cup final against Brazil. Scored two clutch penalties to take France over the top in the Euro 2000 and was voted best player of the tournament. Although he lost the world cup final in 2006, he was clutch (with goals and assists) against Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy in the final, where he scored France’s only goal. The champions league final? I have two words for you: Glasgow Volley. May 15, 2002 is a day no Real Madrid fan will forget.

Now, he’s coach, and in two years, actually a year and a half, he’s already done what past and current legendary managers him are still chasing. You cannot write this stuff. The way he managed players this season was nothing short of genius. This man sees football in a way nobody does: while most managers are content with riding their start players until they finish the season burnt mentally and physically, he went the opposite route. He put a new spin on the meaning of the word turnover.

Zizou on top, Juve at the bottom.
Zizou on top, Juve at the bottom.

I knew this team was different and destined to succeed when on an away game he did not even bother bringing the scoring machine that is Cristiano Ronaldo. The team still performed, and won. They won by the grace of the players who were not regular starters for the team. These players, all of them with egos of course, sacrificed playing time for the good of the team. That’s how I knew Real Madrid had something special, and suddenly even when they drew or did not perform well, I wasn’t worried.

So there he goes, in less and two years, success that sticks to him and expanded to the team and helped them achieve history. He also won La Liga, the Spanish national championship, the first since 2012. Him winning La Liga may be what will help cement his legacy, because believe it or not, the national championship is actually what matters most to fans, former players and the board directors (all collectively called “socios”). Which is why by popular opinion, the greatest Real Madrid team is always the mid-80’s team that won five Liga’s in a row.

Coach Zidane kept everybody involved and motivated. He used every player, every resource to the fullest. His player rotation was so sublime, so good that I could actually feel the players’ health and rest all the way here in Vancouver, Canada.  This really was his most impressive achievement. We should be so grateful that we have this absolute icon with us at Real Madrid. He’s given everything to the club and even called Real “the club of my life.” Real Madrid gets to profit from his good energy.

I just hope that he will have a long, prosperous, healthy career as a coach, and will be put in the best conditions to keep on succeeding. I’m saying this because we do have somewhat of a psychopathic president who is never scared to enact brutal change. The players love him (it’s easy to follow a coach who is humility-laced, and was a former player and phenom in his own right), the socios love him, France loves him, the whole world loves him. In Zidane we trust.

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