Former Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane, has snubbed Portuguese football icon, Cristiano Ronaldo, and picked three other past and present Madrid players who impressed him the most during his spells at the club.
Zidane gained more prominence in club football when he joined Real Madrid from Juventus as a player in 2001. After five years at the club, he decided to retire from the game.
In 2014, he returned to Real Madrid as the club’s B team coach and was promoted to the senior team in the middle of the 2015-2016 season.
Zinedine Zidane won three straight UEFA Champions League titles with the team from the said season to the 2017-2018 season with the help of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema.
Zidane left Real Madrid at the end of the 2017-2018 season amid reports that he and Ronaldo had a misunderstanding.
After a series of back-and-forth, the Frenchman returned to the club in 2019. Before his second arrival at the Santiago Bernabéu, Ronaldo had left for Juventus.
Unfortunately for the French tactician, his second spell was not as successful as his first spell. He only managed to win the Serie A and the Supercopa de Espana in his second spell.
In those two spells, Zinedine Zidane said he was most impressed by Kroos who has recently announced his retirement from football, Modric, and Benzema who currently plays in Saudi Pro League.
“Players who impressed me the most as a coach? When you see Kroos, Modrić and Benzema playing for you for an hour without losing a single ball, that is football”, Zidane said as quoted by Madrid Xtra.
