Zinedine Zidane may give Isco a lifeline at Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s midfield maestro Isco could get a lifeline at the White House now, thanks to Zinedine Zidane’s re-arrival on the managerial front.

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane had a fairly welcome return to managerial duties, thanks to a 2-0 victory over Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening. The French boss restored his faith in previously out of favour stars such as Keylor Navas, Marcelo and Isco.

It was certainly a good match for the trio. Keylor kept a clean sheet and made some good saves, whereas Marcelo got himself an assist. Isco got a goal to his name, which he clearly needed. That said, the former Malaga midfielder looks to have gotten a lifeline under Zizou.

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Isco was for sure the least and poorly utilized player under Santiago Solari and did not even get a chance to make his mark under the Argentine. But Zidane’s return saw Isco start for the first time since Jan 16, and have a superb game which was capped off with a goal.

During Santiago Solari’s time as the Real Madrid boss, the Whites had some dismal results and that was probably because of the clueless manager that sat in the dugout, and his judgement of players based on their physical appearances at training.

Dani Ceballos and Federico Valverde are just the two midfielders who were preferred over the Bearded Beauty, and players like Cristo Gonzalez, Fran Garcia and Alvaro Fidalgo were also kept in the 19 or 20 match squads prior to games ahead of Isco, more often than not.

Those kinds of choices were surely the result of a grudge that Solari held against Isco, and if one player wins and earns dividends after the 42-year-old’s firing, it is none other than him. As a matter of fact, Solari does deserve the blunt for Isco missing a Spain call for this international break.

Zinedine Zidane handed Isco his first start in a long time against Celta Vigo and has insisted that he will continue to count on the 26-year-old. A goal means that Isco will go into the next match high on confidence, and that means that Zidane’s golden charm from the last two Champions League victories has been handed another lifeline by the coach.

Do you think Isco will get back to his brilliant best under Zinedine Zidane?