SportsCan Zidane Do Magic Again In The UCL?

Can Zidane Do Magic Again In The UCL?

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BEVERLY HILLS, March 17, (THEWILL) – It was a fall from grace when the most successful manager in UEFA Champions League history and La Liga Real Madrid’s French coach, Zinedine Zidane, could not replicate those triple treats of consecutive UCL trophies upon his return to the Madrid dugout as manager.

Los Blancos failed to make it past the last 16 in the previous two seasons after defeats to Ajax and Manchester City in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, respectively, with Zidane in charge of the latter exit. To be fair, it was a different atmosphere for every side, coming as they were from months of COVID-19 Lockdowns and featuring in a tournament-styled UCL over one leg only.

In a less similar competition this season with the absence of fans and a host of travel restrictions, the Spanish champions successfully guaranteed their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Atalanta in their Tuesday second leg affair thanks to goals from Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Marco Asensio, for a 4-1 aggregate victory.

It was a season that almost veered off course for Zidane’s side, to the point where there was a strong sense that the Frenchman was going to be fired from his position as a consequence of their poor run of form mid-season. In fact, after Zidane contracted the coronavirus and returned at the end of his forced-isolation, the conclusion was that the Real Board was already in the market for a new manager but were going to allow Zidane wrap up this season.

But, Real managed to squirrel themselves out of danger with improvements in personal and collective game play especially from players like Karim Benzema, who took responsibility for digging the squad out of tight corners with enlivening goals at dying minutes, and Sergio Ramos, who put contentious contract talks aside and stepped up to seal cracks at the back and provide the odd goal to also bail the team out from time to time.

Their overall improvement helped them close the gap behind domestic league leaders Atletico Madrid and advance in Europe at the same time. That was why they could hold their own in their last 16 double-header against a free-scoring side like Italian club Atalanta, with a goal haul of 63 in 27 matches in Serie A, and restrict them to only one goal, home and away.

In the end, even though the win was relatively comfortable for Zidane’s side, the questions about the resilience of the side linger. Real fans will be right to wonder whether this present crop of players they have have it in them to survive against any of the last eight over a two-legged fixture.

Atalanta’s cutting edge may have deserted them and a hungrier set of players from Real took control to assert their dominance over the Italian side but depending on who they are drawn to face in the next round, the conditions will not be the same nor will the relative ease with which they outran Atalanta present itself for another run.

When the tempo is raised in subsequent games, how can they handle the vulnerabilities that were exposed mid-season before their resurgence? Luka Modric and Toni Kroos still ooze class in the middle of the park, yet a midfield pairing with a combined age of 66 will be stretched beyond comfort by a Kevin De Bruyne setup if they chance upon a Manchester City tie, for instance. Or against a Bayern midfield of Javier Martinez and Joshua Kimmich.

Those are the kind of tests that await Zidane’s side even as they celebrate their progression to the tougher end of the European competition.

Zidane had shown enough shrewdness to demonstrate he knows how to navigate his way and to slip through the Champions League’s firewall, over and over again. He possesses an uncanny ability to operate like no one else and take care of the details when everyone expects failure. It is possible he can orchestrate another of those this season and end on another European success to restate why no one bets against him.

But, it will not be a walk in the park.

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