Real Madrid: Zidane celebrates five years as coach
On 24 August 2014, Zinedine Zidane took charge of his first Castilla match. Five years later, he's a three-time Champìons League winner as a coach.
Real Madrid's LaLiga clash with Real Valladolid tonight (19:00 CEST) holds special significance for Zinedine Zidane: Los Blancos' boss celebrates exactly five years since his official debut as a coach.
Took charge of first competitive Castilla match on this day in 2014
On 24 August 2014, the Frenchman made his bow with Real Madrid Castilla, the Bernabéu club's 'B' team, in a Segund División B clash with Atlético Madrid B, and the rest is history: the 47-year-old's coaching CV now boasts three Champions Leagues, one LaLiga title, three UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.
Second-most decorated Real Madrid coach ever
Now in his second spell as Real Madrid head coach, Zidane is bidding to replicate the silverware success of his first stint in charge in what is now his fifth season in the senior dugout. As things stand, his total of nine trophies makes him the second-most decorated coach in the club's history, behind only Miguel Muñoz, who won 14 between 1960 and 1974.
Meanwhile, his 68.5% win ratio leaves him fourth in the all-time ranking of Madrid bosses, with Manuel Pellegrini (75%), Carlo Ancelotti (74.8%) and José Mourinho (71.9%) ahead of him.
Promotion to seniors brings reign of European hegemony
Zidane will surely cast his mind back and remember with a particular thrill his promotion to the first-team hotseat in January 2016. Having not exactly pulled up trees as Castilla boss, it was a slight surprise to see the results that followed that season: 21 wins, four draws, just two defeats - and a Champions League triumph that was, it turned out, merely the start of a period of European domination.
Domestic consistency has proved harder to come by under Zidane, with the exception of his first full season at the helm, when he steered Madrid to an impressive trophy haul that not only included the league title, but also a UEFA Super Cup, a Club World Cup and a second straight Champions League.
The following year saw Madrid bring up a hat-trick of continental titles, and win the Spanish and European Super Cups and another Club World Cup, in a season not without its black marks: Los Merengues endured a poor LaLiga campaign, and were embarrassingly dumped out of the Copa del Rey by Leganés.
When, back in 2014, Zidane's Castilla went down 2-1 to Atlético B, then followed up that result with two further defeats, few would have bet on the midfield great going down in the club's history as a coach too. Five years on, that inauspicious start to life in the third tier is little more than a dim memory.