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Fast readings
Real Madrid fans are delighted to learn that Zinedine Zidane will be back in the club next season – but they must also be wondering how much better they would never leave him.
Real reelection by Zidane as manager was a huge shock for most footballers, but once the adrenaline rush pbaded, our most telling idea was: what a vain season was 2018-19, what a chaotic mess of time.
Not from Zidane's point of view, remember. Although the details are not known to date, the French has certainly gained considerably more autonomy compared to President Florentino Perez and a host of personal promises, making the reconstruction work of Real Madrid an attractive option for a man who had previously the feeling that his hands were linked.
But Perez must have the impression that he should have given Zidane what he wanted in May 2018, saving the club the ignominy of a terrible campaign both at national level and in Europe.
So we turned to Football Manager 2019 to correct Perez's mistake and leave the reins to Zidane at the beginning of the current campaign to see if he could do better than Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari. This is how he succeeded …
August-October: mixed start
Well, it was worrying. Real started the campaign against Atletico Madrid in European Super Cup and, after taking a 2-0 lead in the space of five minutes, lost 3-2 after extra time .
A brilliant first period followed by a collapse; hopefully this is not, I do not know, a poetically perfect metaphor of what will happen in the coming year.
El Clasico at Camp Nou was the first game of the season and the fact that Real finished 17 points behind Barcelona last year was not shocking to see hosts win 2-1 , thanks to the goals of Arturo Vidal and Luis Suarez.
However, it was another rather disturbing sign that Golden Ball World Cup winner Luka Modric was sent off for a two-foot race towards the end.
After winning the next seven matches in all competitions, Real is distinguished by the fact that Zidane gave Mariano plenty of play time (largely ignored by Lopetegui and Solari), while Vinicius Junior became a used much earlier. than in our world.
But we could not deny the fact that this Real team had obvious flaws, which may explain why Real sank 1-0 at home against Levante in October, while the visitors were playing with 10 men in the 23rd minute.
Gareth Bale did not do anything. Sergio Ramos made the mistake. Tiny cracks appeared.
Nov-Jan: Nothing can go wrong
After losing to Levante, Real played 11 undefeated games in the Liga, qualifying for the last 16 games of the Champions League, qualifying for the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and winning the FIFA World Cup ™. clubs.
Zidane won his 10th major trophy as Real manager by defeating Al-Sadd 5-0 in the final.
The main title of this third of the campaign was that Bale is back, playing regularly under Zidane and scoring for fun. Mariano was also a frequent goalscorer, while Raphaël Varane's superb performances allowed 10 draws to qualify for all competitions in those three months.
In fact, at mid-term, Real Madrid was at the top of the standings with 45 points, two more than Atletico and four more than Barcelona. Zidane's genius made the transition from Real to the post-Ronaldo era completely transparent, raising 10 points more than in the previous campaign.
On January 26, Real collapsed in front of Real de Bernabeu. He beat his opponent 3-0 and narrowed the gap on a humiliating day for Zidane. Really look old and tired.
But it's just a glance, right?
February-May: Capitulation
Let's go straight to the end: in the second half of the season, Real Madrid had 34 points in 19 games, an average points-per-game even lower than Real Madrid's on March 13 (1.79 against 1.89). ). The total collapse of Zidane's season is quite spectacular, historians invoking this demolition on the part of Barcelona as the moment when Real is psychologically broken.
Among the horrible national results (at one point, they played in a series of five games without a win, with a 2-0 defeat against Real Betis, relegated to the background, the lowlight). Real Madrid has at least defeated the peak. Zidane by reaching somehow the semi-finals of the Champions League.
A 2-1 win against Paris Saint-Germain at Bernabeu allowed them to sneak into the final eight before a 4-2 win against Atletico in April.
They lost to future winners Manchester City in the semi-finals; Zidane fails to win the Champions League for the first time in his managerial career.
Eight points in the six La Liga games in April saw Real fall to fourth place. Thus, when City advanced in the Champions League, it seemed that Zidane's time was up.
But the troops rallied and four victories out of four in May sparked some optimism for the next campaign.
Real finished with 79 points, eight more than expected in real life, and went much further in Europe – but eventually even Zidane could have prevented Real from suffering without Ronaldo.
By Alex Keble
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