First Guardiola and Enrique left Barcelona in need of rest and now Zidane has quit Real Madrid. The top of Spanish football has become suffocatingWhen Zinedine Zidane called time on his highly productive stint as the head of Real Madrid’s ego management department, it was interesting to reflect that this week marked the 20th anniversary of the sacking of Jupp Heynckes, eight days after he had steered the club to its seventh European Cup.The celebrations had barely finished when Lorenzo Sanz, Real’s president at the time, observed that “this would have been one of the worst seasons in recent years” if Heynckes had not ended his debut campaign by beating Juventus in the Champions League final. The German’s crime was...
Frenchman did it his way during three seasons in the Bernabéu hot seat and is leaving before his legacy can be spoiled“It might look like a strange moment but it is the right moment,” Zinedine Zidane said. And so, 878 days after taking over as manager and only five since he led them to the European Cup again, he walked away from Real Madrid. During the press conference at which he announced the decision, the president, Florentino Pérez, sitting alongside him wearing a dark suit and a darker look, Zidane was repeatedly asked if things might have been different.Mostly he said “no” and the president too insisted there was no point trying to change his mind. And yet at the...
The Champions League triumph against Liverpool showed that Real Madrid’s most obvious quality is simply that they win. Inexplicably at times, but remorselessly“We are Real Madrid,” Marcelo said boldly after Real Madrid had – just – held off Juventus’s fightback in the quarter-final. The reference was clear: they were not Barcelona, not the sort of team to go giving away three-goal leads as their great rivals had against Roma the previous night, not the sort of side who countenanced failure. Whether that is arrogance or a necessary mindset for winning probably depends on perspective, but what is true of that Madrid is that their most obvious quality is simply that they win. Inexplicably at times, but remorselessly.Madrid are only the...
What did Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos intend when grabbing the Egyptian’s arm? He might say he was reacting to Liverpool’s own concussive approach. Either way Salah was doneAnd fade to white. By the end of a messy, thrilling, occasionally grisly Champions League final in Kiev the most unexpected note was that Liverpool’s fearless run to this stage should end with regrets and a quiver of what might have been.It seemed even crueller still that the final image of Mo Salah’s joyful season should be the sight of the Premier League player of the year leaving the pitch in tears with half an hour gone. But then there are reasons why Real Madrid win these games, why the same faces keep...
The Welshman was the match-winner off the bench but his two goals against Liverpool could prove to be a glorious farewellFor a moment there was silence and then there was a small smattering of applause. At the Liverpool end, they were stunned, and they were not alone. The goal that won the European Cup had to be watched twice and they still couldn’t believe it; even the replay on the giant screen didn’t entirely shake them out of it. For the second time, the second Real Madrid goal, they were left wondering whether that had really happened. The first goal was surreal, perhaps the stupidest the European Cup final has seen; the second was sublime, perhaps even the most brilliant....