Zidane Real Madrid New Head Coach

Zidane had been linked as a possible replacement for Benítez since the Clásico defeat, but he had told reporters that he was in no hurry to take on such a job and that he felt that “a lot is missing before reaching the first team” of Real Madrid.

Zidane said he felt more emotional than when he signed as a player for Real Madrid from Juventus in 2001, for what was then a record fee of 75 million euros, about $81.2 million. “I will give everything so that the team wins something this year,” he said.

Real Madrid replaced one of Europe’s most experienced coaches with a largely untested one on Monday, firing the unpopular Rafael Benítez, who had spent only seven months on the job, and appointing Zinedine Zidane.

Zidane, a World Cup winner with France and a Champions League winner with Real Madrid, had most recently been in charge of Madrid’s second team. But Zidane, 43, has never coached in any of Europe’s top leagues. He started coaching Castilla, Real Madrid’s B team, in 2014, having spent a year on the first-team bench as an assistant to Carlo Ancelotti, the manager at the time.

Zidane, considered one of the best attacking midfielders ever, ended his playing career as one of Real Madrid’s so-called Galácticos, the world stars recruited by the club’s longstanding president, Florentino Pérez, for record-setting costs.

Real Madrid and Benítez, who joined the club in June on a three-year contract, had been under mounting pressure since November, after the team fell off the pace in the Liga standings and was crushed at home, 4-0, by its archrival, Barcelona, in the Clásico.

¿Cuántos momentos estelares recuerdas de Zinedine Zidane? ???? ???? #RMHistory #TBT #HalaMadrid https://t.co/RWOXSOkWlG

— Real Madrid C. F. (@realmadrid) January 7, 2016