By Glenn Espinoza

Welcome to Madrid, Spain. It is one of the richest soccer cities on the planet. It wasn’t too long ago that Real Madrid club de futbol acquired the revered 10^th champions league trophy. In a sudden turn of events, the 2015-2016 season has come to a very sudden halt in successes for the club. After an early exit from the league cup, a devastating 4-0 loss to league rivals, and currently sitting in third place in Spain (behind city rivals), the royal whites have fired Rafa Benitez from coaching duties. So where does the world’s richest soccer club look for a coach in the middle of the season? Well have you ever been in a dilemma, only to find out that the answer to all your questions is right beneath your nose? Real Madrid’s second team is coached by club legend Zinedine Zidane. He has been appointed by the club to lead the first team to success.

Although this is his first time coaching a top-flight team, “Zizou” is a former Madrid player. During his time at Madrid, Zidane held every trophy with the club, was named the world’s best player by FIFA, and won a world cup with the French international team.

President of the club, Florentino Perez, keeps a strict policy on having one of the top teams on the planet. Along with signing top players, the club demands a world-class coach. At a Madrid press conference, Perez stated: “Zidane is one of the best players on the planet and he knows better than anyone how to lead Madrid’s first team now as a coach.”

Even under pressure, the royal whites are already performing better than before with the team winning their first two games under Zidane. One can hear the cheers of approval from the fans in the teams’ home stadium, the Santiago Bernbaeu, and see the joy on the player’s faces. The team prefers to play under Zidane. The press was allowed to film a training session, where goal.com was able to actually view a free kick contest between Zidane and tally’s man Cristiano Ronaldo. Recently Ronaldo released this statement when asked about Zidane and former coach Benitez “I have never had a bad opinion of Rafa. He always did the best for Madrid, but he sees football in a different way from Zizou. Don’t ask me why, but the players feel more empathy for Zidane.”

“My number one objective is to win trophies by the end of the year. I am more emotional signing as a coach than I was as a new player to the best club in the world,” Zidane stated at his first press conference after being revealed as the new coach. It appears that fans, teammates and the club all have Zizous back for the remainder of the season. He has all the pieces on the board and now he has to make them work together. On February 16, the royal whites will continue to play in the most prestigious competition in Europe, the Champions league. Now he has to deliver what he promised, an attacking team that dominates their games in Spain and in all of Europe.

Header image from The Guardian.