The time for explanations has come for Zinédine Zidane. Four days after leaving Real Madrid, the coach of the three Champions League returned, Monday, May 31, to the reasons for his departure in an open letter. He said in particular that he regretted the lack of ” trust “ from the Spanish club to him in recent months.
“I’m leaving because I feel that the club does not give me the confidence I need, does not offer me the support [nécessaire] to build something in the medium or long term ”, explains the old no 10 from the France team, in this missive published by the sports daily Ace.
“I know football and I know the demands of a club like Real. I know when you don’t win you have to go. But (…) everything I built on a daily basis, what I brought to the relationship with the players (…) has been forgotten. “
“A little memory”
After winning three Champions League and two Liga, during these two terms at the head of Real Madrid, and despite a last goalless season, Zinédine Zidane would have liked “A little memory” from the Spanish club and its leaders. “I would have liked that in recent months, my relationship with the club and with the president [Florentino Perez] would have been a little different from that of the other coaches ”, he continues.
Despite fifty injuries and eight cases of Covid-19 accumulated over the season, the coach of Merengue however managed to hoist his team to the semi-finals of the Champions League – losing to the winner of the event , Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea -, and at the 2e place in La Liga, behind Atlético Madrid. But criticism was numerous throughout the season, especially within the Spanish club, and the position of the French coach was regularly weakened.
Disappointing recruits
After winning nine trophies in two and a half years during his first stint on the bench for Real (2016-2018), Zidane was called to the rescue in March 2019 by the president, Florentino Perez, to replace Santiago Solari while the Real had nothing more to gain. Eliminated in the knockout stages of the Champions League by Ajax Amsterdam, the club was already behind in La Liga, eliminated by Barça in the Copa del Rey and twice defeated by Barça in the clasicos.
The French coach then signed until June 2022, with a clear objective: to start a new cycle at Real Madrid, a year after the famous treble in the Champions League and after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo for Juventus Turin. It is this failed renewal which now leads to the departure of the 1998 Golden Ball. Most of the recruits in recent months – Eden Hazard, Rodrygo, Luka Jovic… -, have not given satisfaction and Zidane must have left support once again on the framework which made the great success of the White House: Sergio Ramos and Raphaël Varane in defense; Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro in the midfield; and Benzema in attack. With the departure of Zidane, and the probable one of the historic captain, Sergio Ramos, who has still not extended his contract which ends at the end of June, the Merengue club seems determined to renew its workforce in depth.