Even though Zinedine Zidane only spent a total of five seasons as a manager – all for Real Madrid – he was so good at turning a great squad into unstoppable titans that his first stint in Madrid alone is enough to rank him as one of the best managers in the modern game.
Zidane was a phenomenal player who dazzled for two elite European clubs, Juventus and Real Madrid, and shined even brighter on the international stage for France as the champion of the 1998 World Cup.
At Real Madrid as a manager, Zidane three-peated the Champions League, left, and then came back and rescued a falling Real Madrid. He immediately won LaLiga in 2019/20 and set the team up for a return to Champions League dominance in 2021/22.
There were so many things that made Zidane a great manager, but one of the most important aspects was his ability to elevate his team into absolute killers when it was all on the line in finals.
As a player, Zidane could raise his game to the biggest moments, unforgettably sinking a ridiculous volley against Bayer Leverkusen in a Champions League Final. His players did the same, with modern icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale scoring all-time Champions League Final bangers of their own.
In total, Zizou coached Real Madrid to nine finals. Three of them were in the Champions League, two were in the Spanish Supercup, two were in the UEFA Super Cup, and two were in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Remarkably, Real Madrid won every single one of those finals. Zinedine Zidane went 9-0 as Real Madrid manager when it was all on the line, with all but one of those finals – the 2019/20 Spanish Supercup – coming between 2016 and 2018.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.