#5 Zidane’s tactical genius goes unnoticed
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Zinedine Zidane gets the short end of the straw quite a fair bit. The Frenchman’s incredible start to life as a manager; winning the UEFA Champions League, was dismissed as ‘luck’. He oversaw a record-breaking unbeaten run, but is still thought of as tactically ‘naive’.
If you ever wanted proof about the idiocy of those statements, look at Real Madrid’s last two games – a second half tweak in formation completely reversed Madrid’s fortunes against Bayern Munich, even before the red card.
Today, Zidane's introduction of Marcelo changed the game in a way that most managers wouldn't even have thought of - a left-back as a game-changing substitute? Yet, the Brazilian's overlapping runs caused Gijon to overload that side of the pitch with defenders, which allowed Danilo the space to wreak havoc on the right side, leading to the second goal.
Zidane deserves his due, and it's not just down to luck - "In football there's no luck. There's lot of hard work, effort in every game, every moment, every ball. You must make your own luck."
