Pressure takes its toll as Zidane leaves Real Madrid
Zinedine Zidane’s departure from Real Madrid should remind us of the mental toll top-level management can take on a manager.
When Zinedine Zidane came to Real Madrid in January 2016, the club were in the middle of a deep crisis. The storm clouds that had began gathering following the departure of Carlo Ancelotti and the appointment of Rafa Benitez as his successor, had long started spitting lighting. An embarrassing 4-0 home loss to Barcelona prompted fans to start demanding that president Florentino Perez resign.
Further humiliation was added just a month later when Real Madrid were disqualified from the Copa del Rey for playing a suspended player in a first-round game against Cadiz. When a 2-2 draw against Valencia ultimately spelled the end for Benitez’s time at Madrid, he left the dressing room in a state of arms with the squad all having mixed reactions to his departure. In truth, Zidane’s appointment to the job felt like the last roll of the dice to salvage something from a miserable season.
Third in the league table, five points behind Barcelona, out of the Copa Del Rey and a difficult test away to Roma in the Champions League, not to mention a dressing room of bruised egos, one could be forgiven for doubting Zidane, but the Frenchman somehow managed to turn in it around. Unity returned to the dressing room and although they fell as far as 12 points behind Barcelona under his tenure in the league, a first away win at the Camp Nou in five years and a run of 11 successive victories ensured Madrid finished just a point behind their rivals come the end of the season, even momentarily topping the table after scoring first on the final day in La Coruna.
Most importantly, Zidane led his team to Milan, collecting an unlikely 11th Champions League title on penalties against crosstown foes Atletico Madrid. From there, he has gone from strength to strength: A league title, a further two Champions League crowns among the nine trophies he has won in two and half years at Real Madrid. He leaves the club having never lost a major final and the club’s most successful manager since the turn of the century.
Only Zidane himself knows the exact reasons for his departure. He had said in February that he had signed a contract extension and that he wouldn’t leave the club unless he lost the dressing room, something which hasn’t seemed to happen as Real Madrid’s late-season revival saw them win their third consecutive European crown.
His statement to the press on Wednesday offered a little insight with Zidane continuously speaking about the expectations at Real Madrid and the pressure he felt when things went badly this season. “Being a coach is extremely tiring — more so at a club like Real Madrid. When I feel there is nothing more to give, I’ll walk away.”
To be able to decide one’s fate at a club like Real Madrid or Barcelona is rare, mainly because most coaches are sacked before they get a chance to call it a day. It highlights a growing trend among the Spanish giants, with Zidane echoing sentiments his peers at Barcelona also shared. Luis Enrique described his time at Barcelona as “constantly seeking solutions.” It’s a grim picture that can consume lesser men. Pep Guardiola said that some of his best moments in charge of Barca were the eureka moments, when after hours of sitting in a dark, windowless room, he would finally discover how his team could win.
It seems to be a relationship of lots of work and little reward. Past success means little, no matter how much of it you’ve had, to a demanding media and fanbase, with strengths turning into weaknesses when things go south.
For instance, Zidane gets little credit for his work in managing egos at Real Madrid with many managers in the same mould as Zidane seen as merely motivators. The reality of managing egos is captured brilliantly by John Toshack, a man famed for his way with words in Spain, who described entering the Real Madrid dressing room in the late 1990s as like “going into Baghdad.”
With nearly 150 games under his belt, Zidane is Madrid’s fifth longest serving coach. Although Miguel Munoz tops that list comfortably with over 10 years in charge at Los Blancos, that sort of mileage is rare these days, with Vicente Del Bosque sitting second in that same list with just four years at the helm in comparison to Munoz’s 14.
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At Barcelona, a club perceived to be slightly more patient than Madrid, the manager with the longest consecutive stint at the club was Johan Cyruff, managing just six seasons before getting sacked. It’s a statement of how few managers, even those who have reached a legendary status with the club, get to leave in their own time.
Zidane’s decision might seem strange, but we should respect it nonetheless. Few Real Madrid or Barcelona managers get to decide when they leave and even fewer get to go out on a high like winning the Champions League. It’s a shrewd move from the Frenchman and ensures that his time at the club will be remembered fondly.