Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid until 2018

After Zinedine Zidane led Real Madrid to their 11th Champions League triumph, Florentino Perez confirmed the coach will remain at the Santiago Bernabeu until 2018.

Zinedine Zidane had been given a daunting task for his first gig as a head coach. Real Madrid had struggled under Rafa Benitez, and were plagued with issues both on and off the pitch when the Frenchman took over in January.

Not only did the 43-year-old manage to get Los Blancos back in the La Liga title race, he also had them firing on all cylinders in the UEFA Champions League. He was an assistant coach for Carlo Ancelotti when the club had won the tournament last in 2014, and had set out to win the competition as soon as he took over at the Santago Bernabeu.

Despite salvaging what looked to be a disastrous season, club management had not been entirely convinced by the 1998 World Cup winner — until Saturday night.

There had been reports suggesting that Real Madrid were considering Unai Emery to take over at the end of the current campaign. The Sevilla coach has led his club to three consecutive Europa League titles and many believed he could end up in Madrid next.

That won’t be the case though, as Florentino Perez confirmed that Zidane will indeed be back next season.

“Zidane has a contract until 2018 and will stay in charge.” Perez said following Saturday’s victory, via Sport.

“He signed it when he took over the first team and of course he’s going to continue because he’s the ideal coach for Real Madrid.”

With the win on Saturday, Zidane put himself in elite company by becoming just the seventh person of all time to win the Champions League/Champions Cup as both a player and a coach.

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