Real Madrid: Ranking Zinedine Zidane’s individual seasons as the manager

3. 2019/20 – When Zidane proved that attack wins you games and defence wins you titles

This was Zidane’s first complete season after his return as Real Madrid’s manager. He had always said that “There will be changes” before the season started, and there were some changes. Zidane got six new players for the first team, who were worth almost 300 million, which included the likes of Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy, EderMilitao, Rodrygo Goes, and Alphonse Areola.

Real Madrid had ended trophyless in the 2018/19 season, due to which there was additional pressure on Zidane to win a trophy that season. And with a big transfer window, the expectations on Zidane increased. The League title became the primary target of the club, with rivals Barcelona looking to complete a hat-trick of LaLiga titles.  Even Zidane set his sights on the league title, a relatively difficult task than winning a Champions League for him, as he had once said.

But Zidane faced a lot of challenges because the only goalscorer in the team was Karim Benzema. Eden Hazard’s presence could’ve given him better options in attack, but the Belgian missing a major part of the season due to injuries made it much more difficult for him. Not to forget Marco Asensio being out due to an ACL injury, and Gareth Bale looking uninterested in life at Madrid, which left Zidane with lesser options in attack.

Zidane had completed the three-peat of Champions League by relying on his offence more. With the greatest player of all time leading his attacking line, and fullbacks like Marcelo and Carvajal being in their prime, Zidane’s men could easily outscore any top team with their wing play. But with lesser options in attack, Zidane had to change his usual formula.

That’s when he made a major change to this team. Considering the team’s problems in attack with highly inexperienced wingers and the lack of goalscoring wingers, Zidane fixed the defensive issues of the team and started relying on his defenders to win the game for him. He set up a solid defensive system involving the likes of Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal, Casemiro, and Thibaut Courtois, who formed a strong wall that was unbeatable for the opponents.

And he accomplished his target, by winning Real Madrid’s 34th LaLiga title and finishing the league with a total of 87 points, winning by 5 points over Barcelona. His team had stepped up during the final leg of LaLiga scheduled post lockdown, with Los Blancos winning 10 continuous games before lifting the trophy, including some close encounters.

The team finished with just 99 goals in all competitions that season, but they set a lot of defensive records. They conceded just 25 goals in the league, the lowest number of goals ever conceded in a 38-game LaLiga season in the history of the club. Thibaut Courtois won the Zamora award with 18 clean sheets to his name and became the first Real Madrid goalkeeper since Iker Casillas in 2007/08 to win the Zamora award.

Though the team was great in LaLiga, they were disappointed in the Champions League and Copa Del Rey. They finished second in the group stages of the Champions League as they couldn’t win a single game against the group leaders Paris Saint-Germain. They were knocked out by Manchester City in the round of 16, as Guardiola’s men outclassed the team in the second leg along with individual mistakes from players. While in the Copa Del Rey they were knocked out by Real Sociedad who went on to win the tournament after winning 4-3 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But the team won the Supercopa de Espana held in Saudi Arabia, with the trophy being a bonus. Despite not winning a trophy, Real Madrid was able to book a place for themselves in the revised format of the Supercopa, and they made the best out of the chance by defeating Valencia and Atletico Madrid to lift the trophy.

Zidane won only the LaLiga that season, but there’s every reason to rate this season higher than the 2017/18 season. Zidane took over a mentally fatigued team, who were down after a trophyless season. He uplifted the team, and instilled the confidence that they are going to win again. He ignited that fire inside the players, which was visible in their effort on the field. Winning with a team with low morale is a tough task compared to winning with a team on form.

He fixed the important issue of Real Madrid’s defense, and he had learned a lot with experience. He became even more tactically versatile, and his in-game management skills became even better. As a club, Real Madrid prefer the Champions League more than the LaLiga. But as a manager, Zidane feels it’s a lot more difficult to win the league compared to the Champions League, which is another reason to rate this season higher than 2017/18.

Overall, it was a great season for Zidane, and in my opinion, this season is definitely the third-best season of his career.

Game of the season – 2-0 win vs Barcelona in LaLiga. Barcelona were completely outclassed by Zidane in this game, where we got to see two unlikely scorers in Vinicius and Mariano.

The best experiment of the season – Using 5 midfielders in the Supercopa semifinal against Valencia, in which they won 3-1