Three advantages Real Madrid have over PSG

1. Coaching

We all know how great of a coach Zidane is, but in relation to Unai Emery, manager of PSG how does he stack up? Zidane is in his third season with Real Madrid as manager and has coached his club to two Champions League titles already.

Zinedine Zidane

In three season Zidane has managed his club for a total of 26 matches in the Champions League, with a record of 18-5-3. His three defeats were spread across all three season with just one every year. Right there is a stat that screams resiliency. In Zidane’s first season where he picked up halfway through the competition, he used 18 different players. During his second season where Madrid also won he utilized 23 players. This season Zidane has given minutes to 22 players at Real Madrid.

Unai Emery

In the other dugout will be PSG manager Unai Emery. The Spanish coach has been the manager of the Parisians for just two seasons now. During his first season in charge, all seemed to be going well until Barcelona embarrassed his side knocking them out of the competition in the Round of 16. Emery has managed just 14 games for PSG in the Champions League with a record of 9-3-2.

Last season Unai used 24 players which is better than Zidane’s numbers but that quantity, of course, did not result in quality. This season Unai has used just 16 players, that means only five other players outside of the starting XI.

My Point

The idea isn’t to get caught up in the exact numbers but to focus on the ones that pop out at you, the team record. Zidane is a mastermind tactician and is getting results in many ways, take a look at last seasons run. Football is not a point A to point B game, it requires variety, positive change and adaptability. This is something that Zidane has proved in every season thus far. There is only so much a manager can do in a match to alter the outcome but in this case, Madrid surely has the upper hand. Not only has Zidane managed more matches than his counterpart he has only used a much wider variety of players. His ability to utilize various players with mutiple formations has been the root of Los Blancos’ success.

Stat Attack:

• Zidane has managed 26 matches for Real Madrid in the UCL
• Emery has managed 14 games for PSG in the UCL
• Zidane’s record is 18-5-3
• Unai’s record is 9-3-2
• Zizou has won in every season he has managed
• Emery has yet to make it past the round of 16