Zinedine Zidane has stepped down from his role as Real Madrid manager for the second time in three years, club can confirm


Zinedine Zidane has stepped down from his role as Real Madrid manager for the second time in three years, club can confirm

Zinedine Zidane has stepped down from his role as Real Madrid manager for the second time in three years, club can confirm

Zinedine Zidane has called time on his Real Madrid managerial career for the second time in three years.

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After Real’s first trophy-less season in more than a decade was confirmed by Atletico Madrid’s La Liga title triumph last weekend, Zidane has left the Bernabeu again, having previously quit as manager so that a ‘new project’ could be started in 2018, after a remarkable run of three consecutive Champions League triumphs.

Zidane leaves having just led Real to the semifinal of the Champions League and a second-place finish in La Liga

Zidane to decide on his future with Real Madrid in coming days
Zidane was to decide on his future with Real Madrid in this week

Real Madrid have confirmed that Zinedine Zidane has decided to step down as the club’s manager, despite still having 12 months left to run on his contract, just days after they were beaten to the La Liga title by Atletico Madrid.

Zidane’s future has been the subject of speculation for much of this season as it seemed all wasn’t well behind closed doors. It had previously emerged that he will leave his position as Madrid’s manager this week, according to Fabrizio Romano.

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Ahead of their final game of the season against Villarreal last weekend, at which point they still could have finished as La Liga champions, Zidane said Real Madrid “could be a better team without me, for sure”, thus increasing the doubts about his future at the club. He was set to decide his future with Real this week and today the club has officially made public about the Frenchman’s departure.

A Real Madrid statement published on Thursday read: “Real Madrid CF announces that Zinedine Zidane has decided to end his current stage as coach of our club.

“It is now time to respect his decision and show him our appreciation for his professionalism, dedication and passion in all these years, and for what his figure represents for Real Madrid.

“Zidane is one of the great icons of Real Madrid and his legend goes beyond what he has been as a coach and player of our club.

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“He knows that he is at the heart of Real Madrid and that Real Madrid is and will always be his home.”

Three frontrunners listed in both AS and Marca as being early favourites for the job at Madrid: Antonio Conte, who has just left Inter Milan, Real Madrid legend Raul and Massimiliano Allegri, the former Juventus manager, although he is already close to returning to the Juventus to replace Andrea Pirlo.

Conte certainly has a CV that a club like Real would be interested in, having won titles in Italy and England, with Juventus, Chelsea and now Inter, and has held talks with Madrid on a few occasions previously, coming closest to taking the job when Julen Lopetegui was fired in 2018. Raul has no senior experience as a manager but has been the head coach of Real Madrid Castilla, their second team, for two years, which may play in his favour given AS reports the club plans to include more youth prospects in their first-team squad under the next regime. Mauricio Pochettino is also not out of the books totally, as the Argentine seek to draw attention from the Madrid suitors.

The Madrid job is a fatiguing one and Zidane has been uncharacteristically tetchy at times this season, displaying signs of burn-out. He came back in to help save the club when Julen Lopetegui and Santiago Solari were sacked in the 2018-19 season, and drove them to the la Liga title the following year. Zidane did his best to defend it this season and took the battle with Atletico Madrid down to the wire, but ultimately came up two points short. Given Madrid have suffered over 60 injuries in this intense season and his squad, at times, has been paper-thin, Zidane emerges with credit.

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