Zinedine Zidane sent shockwaves around the footballing world after announcing that he was stepping down as Real Madrid manager on Thursday.
In less than two-and-a-half seasons, the Frenchman who was already a club legend after his playing career, elevated himself to the status of one of the greatest figures to be associated with Los Blancos in the Whites’ decorated history.
Here are Seven Deadly Stats from Zidane’s magnificent reign.
BEST IN MADRID’S HISTORY?
Zidane’s indelible mark on the club is best summed up by how they’ve swept up just about every trophy available, with the Copa del Rey the only competition the 45-year-old has failed to win.
Nine trophies in less than three seasons. Wildly successful seems like an understatement. Is he already Madrid’s greatest ever manager?
9 - Zinedine Zidane picked up nine trophies in his two years and four months with Real Madrid, the most titles by a manager with the club since Miguel Muñoz won 14 trophies in 14 years (1960 - 1974). Galactico. pic.twitter.com/9h43EUoGb7
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 31, 2018
AN UNPARALLELED LEGACY
His overall trophy count is impressive, but Zidane will be defined by three of those. Nobody had won the Champions League even twice in a row before he showed up in the Madrid dugout. Three in a row was borderline unthinkable.
But Zizou pulled it off, joining Carlo Ancelotti and Bob Paisley as the only managers to have won the trophy three times. Which club will take him to his fourth?
3 - Zinedine Zidane is the first manager to win the European Cup/Champions League in three consecutive seasons. Legacy. #UCLfinal #RMALFC pic.twitter.com/ui8VXev5Kg
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 26, 2018
UNBEATABLE
40 - Zinedine Zidane oversaw 40 unbeaten games with Real in all competitions between April 2016 and January 2017, a record for the club. Unrivalled. pic.twitter.com/aDtL4AhP7T
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 31, 2018
THEY ALWAYS SCORED
Even more impressive than the unbeaten run was the scoring streak. For a record-tying 73 games, Real Madrid scoring at least once was the safest best in football.
Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid scored in 73 consecutive games across all competitions from April 2016 to September 2017.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 31, 2018
Equalling the streak of Pelé's Santos from 1963. 😳 pic.twitter.com/2yXiByYr6Y
A TRUE JUGGERNAUT
Zinedine Zidane's Real Madrid became the first side in LaLiga history to win 13 consecutive away games.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 31, 2018
WWWWWWWWWWWWW
February to October 2017. pic.twitter.com/XG9IKdMifA
THE GALACTICO WHO WASN’T
As a player Zidane embodied Real Madrid’s previous Galactico era, joining the club in a record-setting £48million transfer from Juventus in 2001.
As a manager, however, he was quite the opposite. If anything, his spell was an anti-Galactico era. He benefitted from having inherited a deeply talented squad, but in any case, his emphasis on youth development was admirable. There were plenty of young players already at the club, either in the academy or on the fringes of the first-team, who have developed under Zidane, whose only transfer purchases were young players – Alvaro Morata, Dani Ceballos, and Theo Hernandez.
His trophies to spending ratio is quite impressive.
Transfer expenditure during Zidane’s #RealMadrid reign:#Zidane €70.5 million
— indifoot (@indifoot) May 31, 2018
Mourinho €349.4 million
Conte €390.6 million
Guardiola €528.5 million
Titles over the last three years:
Zidane 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 (9)
Guardiola 🏆🏆 (2)
Conte 🏆🏆 (2)
Mourinho 🏆🏆🏆 (3) pic.twitter.com/K0LlN5cDR8
THAT WIN PERCENTAGE
Club president Florentino Perez said that Madrid don’t yet have a replacement in mind for Zidane. Anyone who steps in is going to have a tough act to follow.
A man with a near 70% win percentage is tough to top. And then there are the trophies.
Zidane's record at Madrid 👌
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 31, 2018
Played: 149
Wins: 104
Draws: 29
Defeats: 16
Win percentage: 69.79%#UCL #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/wfzFf6OJen
