This season has been a challenging one for Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid despite sitting second in LaLiga table.
The fact of the matter is his Real Madrid has looked shaky even at the best of times. The only reason they’re within distance of the league title is due to the wobbles of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona.
While they made a deep run into the Champions League, they were thoroughly outclassed in both games of their semifinal against Chelsea. Had Chelsea been more clinical in front of goal, the tie could have been over in the first leg and we’d be dissecting a a pummeling of Real Madrid.
The question becomes where do Los Blancos go from here?
Reportedly, the players believe that one of their worst fears may be about to come true.
Zidane’s time at Real Madrid may be up.
According to Goal, the Madrid dressing believe that Zidane may call time on his tenure and resign at the end of the season.
The report claims that the French manager has grown tired of the circus surrounding Real Madrid, both on and off the field.
More from Playing for 90
- Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
- Everything you need to know ahead of the 250th ‘Super Clásico’
- Barcelona put five past Real Betis
- Manchester City suffer but come away with win over West Ham
- Baffling Liga MX ruling strips Puebla of a hard-earned victory
The European Super League, which Real Madrid president Florentino Perez spearheaded, put Zidane in an awkward position of having to answer questions about something which he had no say on.
On the pitch, the team has left much to be desired and some of the blame can fall on Zidane’s shoulders.
His second stint as manager has not gone as well as his first and part of it has to do with his reliance on the old guard. He’s still counting on the likes of Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema, to name a few.
While a couple of those continue to put in good performances, others simply weren’t good enough this season. Whether it’s been reluctance on the president or Zidane, they haven’t done enough to refresh in certain areas.
Zidane’s trust in the players who played a huge part in three consecutive Champions League titles may have been warranted when he first came back but that is no longer the case.
Those players got older and it is evident that their fitness is not what it used to be and are now struggling during the final stretch of the season.
All that being said, in the end, the decision to stay or go will ultimately come down to Zidane. He’s built enough cache and done enough to earn that right. Perez isn’t going to fire him. He’s had enough bad publicity as it is and he can’t afford any more bad publicity.
He has one more year left on his contract. With some of the higher profile managers already unavailable, Real Madrid may do anything they can to convince him to stay. At least until another manager becomes available.