If there were any doubts about Zinedine Zidane's appointment as manager at Real Madrid, they've surely been silenced following his first game in charge of the football club. The Vikings haven't necessarily had a poor season so far, but they did struggle to stay consistent and keep audiences entertained during the brief coaching reign of Rafael Benitez. Now, though, with Zidane in charge, Real Madrid have burst out of the gates with a thrilling 5-0 win against Deportivo La Coruna.
No Goals for Ronaldo
Perhaps the most notable thing about the match, other than the fact that it was Zidane's first on the Real Madrid sidelines, is that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't score a single one of his team's five goals. Instead, Gareth Bale was the clear man of the match, scoring a hat trick in the middle of the match (at 22, 49, and 63 minutes respectively) to give the Vikings a clear edge. Karim Benzema bookended Bale's hat trick with a brace of his own goals, scoring at 15 minutes and again in the final moments of the match to boost Real to one of their biggest wins of the La Liga season so far.
That's not to say that Ronaldo was a non-factor, though. On the contrary, the famed Portuguese striker provided assists-one for Bale and one for Benzema. Since one of the chief issues at the Bernabeu this season has been the Real Madrid squad's seeming inability to function well as a cohesive team, it was comforting to see the football club's top star taking a backseat and allowing his teammates to take the spotlight. In fact, each of the five goals in this game were set up with strong assists, including helping hands from Sergio Ramos, Daniel Carvajal, and Toni Kroos.
The team mentality of the match, combined with the high-scoring nature of the outcome, bodes well for Zidane's future at Real Madrid. Rafa Benitez was criticized for a more tactical philosophy, which often seemed to be stifling Real's incredible offense with a more cautious, defensive approach. Putting up a five-point victory, in a game where the wearers of the Real Madrid home shirt 2015/16 were required to work together to get a win, was arguably the best thing that Zidane could have done to kick off his tenure coaching the Vikings.
A Competitive Match
The score in Saturday's match made the game between Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna look like a blowout. In actuality, though, Deportivo played solid football and challenged the Vikings on a number of occasions.
Deportivo's Turks actually beat Real Madrid's Vikings in possession, holding the ball for 52% of the match. They also managed almost as many dangerous attacks and shots on goal as Real did. Unfortunately, though, Deportivo has no forwards on the level of Gareth Bale or Karim Benzema, and no goalkeeper with the skill of Keilor Navas. As a result, what could have been a close match in other circumstances ended up being one-sided in the scoring department.
La Liga Standings
Zidane's first victory in charge puts the Vikings in third place on the La Liga standings table, with a point total of 40. The Vikings have won 12 of their 19 games so far this season, losing just three. They also have the highest goal tally of any soccer club on the table (52) and the biggest goal difference (+34). (In comparison, Barcelona have scored 44 and have a GD of +29.)
As of right now, Real are one point ahead of Villarreal and trailing just slightly behind both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. A few more games like this one, though, and Zidane's football team could be right back in the running for the 2015/16 title.
More notable than what the match did for the standings, though, is what Zidane's first win at Real Madrid did for the soccer club's morale. Before the game, there were rumors swirling that Gareth Bale was ready to hit the road, so upset was he with the Benitez sacking. There has also been speculation for months that Ronaldo was ready to move elsewhere. Now, though, two of the top stories in soccer are about Bale's endorsement of Zidane and Zidane's pledge to keep Ronaldo around for the foreseeable future. From every angle, it looks like Zidane is going to bring about a return to form at the Bernabeu.
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