Zidane 7 points ahead of Barcelona, 10 ahead of Atleti

Real Madrid vs Villarreal live online

Real Madrid performing in the Liga under Zidane

Full screen

Zidane has turned the sock the right way round, as they say in Spanish, at Real Madrid in LaLiga. The Frenchman took over on 4 January, with the team in third place after Rafa Benítez' side had drawn at Mestalla 2-2. They were four points behind Atlético Madrid and two behind Barcelona. And Luis Enrique's side had a game in hand, against Sporting (having been away on Club World Cup duty).

Wobbly start from Zidane

Zidane didn't have an easy start, raising doubts over his appointment with draws at the Villamarín (1-1, 24 January) and La Rosaleda (1-1, 21 February). And the alarm bells really started ringing when he lost 0-1 in the derby at the Bernabéu, with Simeone picking his plans to pieces.

Real Madrid start winning

But Zidane moved his chalkboard around and put his side back on the map, with Real Madrid winning the next 12 games and making Real Madrid the best performing side from matchday 19 (Zizou's debut) to 38. In total they picked up 53 points to Barça's 49 and Atleti's 47. And the Liga ended up heading to Barcelona by just two points.

Zidane's winning trend has continued this season. In Zidane's 24 Liga games in charge (20 last season and four this) he's SEVEN points ahead of Luis Enrique and TEN ahead of Simeone.

Zidane going for the record

And against Villarreal on Wednesday Zidane can claim the record for the most consecutive Liga wins. The record of 16 was set by Pep Guardiola's 2010-11 Barcelona side, and Zidane can hit 17 wins on the trot against Villarreal.