Zidane's impact in terms of stability can't be understated either.  If it was any other person, he would have been fired mid-season, had a spat with players or the media would have destroyed him....  but because it's Zidane, Real Madrid and the media have taken on his personality interestingly.  There's patience there and a sense that everyone is working truly together.

For the first time in my lifetime, Real Madrid appear calm and serene.

btw cruyff's history with barcelona has also been the way it is for political reasons as well as on the pitch. political reasons that zidane himself has never subscribed to. he was akin to pique as a player.....i'm not saying he was garbage i mean akin to pique as in, known to run off at the mouth, and the fact he was a great player (something pique isn't), he was endeared even more by the rivals for that. him giving his son a catalan name was also viewed by the rivals as a political statement

zidane never had that kind of "run off at the mouth character", not as a player nor coach and not that madrid needs that anyway. whilst i put him above meaning more for madrid than cruyff for barcelona; many (including madrid fans) will not because he hasn't set up some fancy formation or "blueprint"

madrid fans will put him on that level when he leaves though, cos that's how sports is. del bosque wasn't appreciated by many (including me) till like 2 years after he left. even cruyff, their love for him grew in leaps and bounds close to the end of the gaspart years. which is when laporta used him (and beckham) to campaign. in cruyff's last couple of seasons certain pro barcelona tabloids called for his head, that divorce was messy.

And that's it tito...

For older folks such as me, effectiveness in a quiet and simple manner is golden.... there's no attempt at self-promotion. Zidane isn't obsessed with being seen as a genius or building a personal brand. Zidane is Zidane.

He doesn't jump up and down during games regardless of events. He's self-deprecating and always gives credit to the players. When there's trouble, he takes on all the blame and defends everyone else, whether they deserve it or not.

I don't know if you guys noticed.... he stayed on the periphery when the trophy was lifted, not central. He wanted the glory to go to the players.

It's beyond rare in this day and age of constant self-promotion and shameless exhibitionism. He's a throwback.

actually u know what? i changed my mind, i'm just being a prisoner of the moment. best way to know if his relationship with us has surpassed cruyff's at barcelona is for time to pass. difficult to do that now as he's still coaching. as far as achievement goes though, 3 straight UCL's is in a category by itself......lol i remember when we used to say on here nobody defends their UCL crown

Btw, I also think that's a big reason we NEVER panic even in the most dire of situations. Our manager is always calm as a cucumber..... but with a fire smoldering behind his intense gaze. Our club has taken on his personality.

Before Zidane, we always fought hard.... but we lost most of the games that we now win.

@sportsczy, he does jump up and down during games, especially when we miss chances or if we score a crazy goal, i remember him jumping and ripping his pants in the process in his first clasico as our coach (or was it the second leg wolfsburg game). but as far as trophy presentations go, yes, he always lets the players enjoy their moment, and never goes out of his way to take the spotlight, which is something a lot of managers have always done right from time.

Lol, you two!

I ackowledge that Zidane has earned a spot in history. The number of trophies he has won in such a short timeframe is extraordinary. His playing career also put him amongst the great legends at Madrid.

But at this point, after the overall disappointing year we had, and with the questions outstanding about his tactical awareness, it is premature to compare him to Cruyff or De Stefano.

Let’s see how he helps to transition this team and how they make out over the next couple of years before bestowing these accolades upon him.

Yeah, he does jump up and down. Nothing to make himself a spectacle but he celebrates like everyone else.

yeah i take part the cruyff part, time needs to pass for that to happen. plus i don't like barcelona so its very easy for me to place one of our own above them. i've been in such an amazing mood, i might even call traffic cone arbeloa a bigger legend than anyone from the rivals' camp....but that will be going to far

we didn't have a terrible season because of tactical awareness (and if you look at my posts i've said that all year); we had a terrible season cos zidane put too much faith in limited resources, and we had back ups still in diapers.

it would have still been a tough season even if we got say mbappe for example, for the simple fact the rivals only lost one game. what we need is quality and depth, competition basically.

i can't believe we've got 3 straight.

titosantill wrote:i can't believe we've got 3 straight.

Right! It is gonna take me sometime to really wrap my head around the fact that Madrid won 3 straight CL titles and they can very well do it again.

This sort of stuff only happens on Football Manager.

Nope, you won't be able to wrap your heads around it. It won't sink in. 3 CLs in a row in this day and age is beyond miraculous.

You'll never completely absorb it. Your club made history and made the jump from mere mortals to football gods.

It's three CLs in a row and 4 in 5 years. That's total, brutal, all-out godlike dominance worthy only of a legendary team.

Pat yourselves on the back guys for it's official: Real Madrid is the only club in history to have had three separate periods of total dominance in Europe and you have as many CLs as Barcelona, Bayern and United combined.

Long Live Real Madrid - the absolute and undisputed king of kings!

King of Kings.