When he took over from Rafa Benitez as Real Madrid boss in January 2016, he was seen by some as a last throw of the dice by president Florentino Perez and described as a “plaster” by Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo.
Some 20 months on, he has seven trophies to his name - including two Champions League crowns - and only seven defeats.
Perhaps it was the logical next step. After drawing a line under a successful playing career at Real Madrid in 2006, Zidane returned to the Spanish side as an advisor, before becoming an assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti, then youth team trainer at Castilla and finally taking the top job last year.
There can be little doubt about that. Even if last year’s Champions League win was derided by some following a relatively easy route to the final as Madrid knocked out Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City before edging out Atletico on penalties in Milan, the successful defence of that title in 2017 was much more impressive as Los Blancos beat Bayern Munich and Atletico over two legs and then thrashed a much-fancied Juventus side in Cardiff.
“He has been successful and some people are very surprised, but when you talk about his career, it was good for him to come back to the cantera, to come back into sports management,” Karembeu, a Madrid player prior to Zidane’s arrival, added. “This is very humble. That has given him a pathway to go far.”
In the media open day ahead of last season’s Champions League final, Zidane told the press how he was enjoying every moment as Madrid coach and trying each day to be better.
“It’s a passion for him,” Karembeu said. “It’s a devotion. Zidane is this kind of guy. He is engaged in what he is trying to do and I think also, to be a footballer or to be a coach, you have a virus and he has it.
We know that he doesn’t like to lose. He is a winner. He has that ambition and of course, Zizou always tries to fire up his team and make his team better and that is what he is doing also as a coach, as a manager.”
As a player, Zidane was part of an exciting project at Real Madrid as Perez brought in some of the world’s most expensive footballers in a side that was dubbed Los Galacticos because of its amazing array of stars.
And another idea at that time was to combine the best signings with talented youngsters from the youth academy: Zidanes y Pavones.
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