Rafael Benitez has been sacked as Real Madrid's head coach, following the football club's middling draw against Valencia on Sunday. The 55-year-old Spanish manager-who has previously served coaching stints with Valencia, Liverpool, and Napoli, among others-had only been in charge at the Bernabeu for seven months. However, from very early on, the writing appeared to be on the wall for Benitez.

Last spring, when Benitez was hired, fans, soccer pundits, and even (reportedly) Real Madrid players were still heartily upset over the unceremonious sacking of Carlo Ancelotti. Ancelotti, of course, had helped the Vikings win a landmark 10th Champions League title in 2014 and had coached the soccer team within one of Barcelona's greatest squads ever in the 2014/15 La Liga. Benitez had big shoes to fill from the beginning, and rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo was unhappy with his appointment (to the point of looking for a transfer elsewhere) certainly didn't ease the pressure.

Zinedine Zidane Takes Over

On Monday, that pressure finally boiled over, with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez presenting Zinedine Zidane as his football club's new manager. Zidane-previously a standout attacking midfielder for the Vikings (as well as Bordeaux, Juventus, and the French national team)-had been coaching Real Madrid's reserve team. He is now Real Madrid's head coach-the first head coaching position of his career.

Needless to say, the appointment is a major coup for Zidane, but he'd better watch out: Perez was criticized heavily for firing Carlo Ancelotti last spring, and he's likely to be critiqued by the football media again for firing Benitez. That criticism won't come because Rafa's dismissal wasn't justified. On the contrary, Real Madrid fans have been calling for the manager's sacking for months. Instead, Perez will be called out as a classless jerk, thanks to reports that Benitez was not informed of Real Madrid's decision to appoint a new head coach. Instead, he got to find out through the media, just like everyone else. Ouch.

What Went Wrong?

Despite the low-blow nature of Rafa's sacking, it probably was time for Real Madrid to go in another direction. Benitez simply hasn't been able to win games consistently since taking over at the Bernabeu. Early on, he was criticized for a defensive, tactical approach that kept players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema from engaging in the kind of high-scoring fireworks for which Real Madrid is famous. More recently, he's faced controversy for the Vikings' disqualification from the 2015/16 Copa del Rey-a punishment that came because Benitez fielded a player who was not eligible to play in the tournament.

There have been strong moments, of course. Real Madrid made it through the Champions League group stage with five wins and no losses-the best record of any team in the tournament. Just a few weeks ago, meanwhile, we got a glimpse of the Real Madrid of all, as the Vikings pummeled Rayo Vallecano 10-2. These were the moments where the world-class talents of players like Ronaldo, Benzema, Gareth Bale, and James Rodriguez seemed to be meshing with the undeniably world-class coaching abilities of Rafa Benitez. And if you need proof that Benitez is a world-class soccer coach, remember that he's the only manager ever to accomplish the three-peat of winning the Europa League, the Champions League, and the FIFA Club World Cup. (He won those tournaments with Chelsea, Liverpool, and Inter Milan, respectively.)

But there were also bad moments where Benitez seemed like he was completely mismanaging his football team. There was dull 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid in October, where the Vikings led for nearly 75 minutes but still didn't win the game. There was the disastrous 0-4 loss against Barcelona in November, one of the most one-sided El Clasico matches ever. There were constant reports of friction between Benitez and players like Ronaldo, Rodriguez, Marcelo, and Isco. And there was the Copa del Rey cataclysm-a fiasco so big that it would have been difficult for any coach to recover from it.

With Benitez out the door, Zidane will have to hit the ground running. He'll need to oversee Real's January transfer market activity, as well as coach the Vikings to (hopefully) their first win of the New Year against Deportivo La Coruna next weekend. Do you think he's up to the task? Find us on social media to share your thoughts on the sacking of Benitez and the arrival of Zidane. You can find us on multiple social platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.