Zinedine Zidane took Real Madrid to back-to-back Champions League title. (Reuters)
It was in January 2016 the former French International Zinedine Zidane was appointed as the manager for Real Madrid. A series of poor results followed by a 4-0 hammering at home at the hands of arch-rivals Barcelona sealed the fate of the then manager Rafael Benitez, who was sacked two months after the massive defeat. The arrival of former Real Madrid midfielder gave a massive boost to the side and they went on to win the Champions League by the end of the season.
The former French manager bettered his result in the next season and not only took his side to a second consecutive UCL victory but also won the La Liga Trophy. Since Zidane was appointed at the helm, he has won 6 out of total 10 trophies for the club. But the ongoing season raised questions about his abilities as the manager with Real Madrid having a tough season.
The club is struggling this season, trailing 16 points behind table-toppers Barcelona in La Liga. A 3-0 loss to Barca at home in December triggered rumours on Zidane’s future as the manager of the club.
But in spite of the speculations, the French manager on Thursday signed a new contract with the club, extending it to the year 2020. Zidane’s original contract was supposed to expire by the end of the season. But in spite of the extension, the manager said that he still needs to provide results as the new contract “does not change anything”.
Speaking to reporters, the 45-year old manager said, “I’m enjoying what I do every day, because that’s the way it is. I can’t imagine myself as a coach in two, three years, because things are not like that. I know how it goes, nothing more, even with this contract it does not change anything.”
Real suffered yet another 2-2 draw on Wednesday against Numancia in a Copa del Rey fixture, even though the side qualified for the quarters of the tournament. Speaking about the result, Zidane said, “We’re always going to get criticism but we’re going to try to change this situation. Today was a difficult match. A draw is not the best result, but we’ll continue to do our job in a positive way and at some point we’ll see the results of this hard work”.