Zinedine Zidane has come under fire during his two spells as Real Madrid coach for a lack of tactical nous. The French coach’s success cannot be doubted, with a triple Champions League win and the double in the 2016-17 season, but he has been accused of getting lucky, rather than constructing a path to glory.
While Zidane is more of a man-manager who massages egos than a coach at the cutting edge of tactical innovation, this season he has taken two steps forward on that front.
Real have tightened up at the back, boasting Europe’s best defence, and have become a competitive force once more, proving it with a 1-0 derby win over Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
It was a triumph that takes them six points clear of second-place Barcelona, who host Levante on Sunday, and leaves local rivals Atletico in the dust, sixth, winless in five, 13 points off the pace.
Zidane opted to pack the midfield, a system he happened upon during the Spanish Super Cup which Madrid won in Jeddah in January. The first half started in jittery fashion, both teams making mistakes as play flowed end to end. Madrid captain Sergio Ramos hooked one effort over the bar and skewed another off target when he should have scored.
At the other end Vitolo and Alvaro Morata caused problems for Madrid’s defence, with the former charging into the area and laying off to Angel Correa, who struck the post. Vitolo stung Thibaut Courtois’s palms with a low effort as Atletico took control and the visitors should have had a penalty, when Casemiro took out Morata, but nothing was awarded.
Atletico were in the ascendency and Zidane decided to switch things around at half-time, making a double change. A rare move from the Frenchman, who had not made a single substitution at the break previously this season.
Off came Toni Kroos and Isco, on went Vinicius Junior and Lucas Vazquez. A change of system, suddenly with width to drive at Atletico’s shaky full-backs, Renan Lodi and Sime Vrsaljko.
It worked.
Madrid came out strongly, with Fede Valverde stinging Jan Oblak’s palms, before Karim Benzema broke the deadlock in the 54th minute. It was substitute Vinicius who started the move, with a dangerous dribble, playing in left-back Ferland Mendy, who put the ball on a plate for Madrid’s top scorer to dispatch - the French connection.
“Lucas and I came on really well and we changed the game,” said Vinicius to Spanish television afterwards, acknowledging the impact the coach’s decision made.
Diego Simeone threw on Yannick Carrasco for his second Atletico debut and, in truth, the Belgian offered more than the rest of the team had in the previous hour, but Atletico never looked like finding a chink in Zidane’s white wall.
The Super Cup triumph was Real Madrid’s first statement of intent and this the second; they are once again a force to be reckoned with.
Real hadn’t won a league game at home against Atletico since 2012. This victory reflects on both their state and Atletico’s, at their lowest ebb since Simeone took charge. Real don’t have time to look in the rear-view mirror though, with eyes fixed on their Copa del Rey clash against Real Sociedad on Tuesday.
Zidane’s machine isn’t slowing down and there can be no doubt - this time it is him at the wheel.