Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 7y

Zinedine Zidane is rising to challenge of coaching Real Madrid - Mijatovic

Real Madrid legend Predrag Mijatovic has told L'Equipe how impressed he is with Zinedine Zidane's ability to handle "the real challenge" of coaching the club's megastars.

Mijatovic played for Madrid between 1996 and 1999, scoring the only goal of the 1997-98 UEFA Champions League final for the Spanish giants to win the club's seventh European crown.

Zidane won a Champions League himself with Madrid as a player before retiring in 2006, and then recorded the club's 11th continental triumph last May after just six months in charge in what is his first senior coaching role. 

"It's very difficult to coach a club like Real," Mijatovic, who was Madrid's sporting director between 2006 and 2009, said. "OK, you have a great team, but everyone wants to play. To handle that, to get everyone pulling in the same direction, it's a real challenge.

"Zidane arrived when the team was going through a difficult period. The squad was struggling. He lifted their heads and won the Champions League."

Before replacing Rafael Benitez in January, Zidane's only previous coaching experience had been as Madrid's reserve team boss and as an assistant to former first-team coach, Carlo Ancelotti.

While his place as one of the game's all-time great players earned him instant respect in the dressing-room, Mijatovic believes the 1998 Ballon d'Or winner has shown he has natural ability in the dug-out as well as on the pitch.

"We know his qualities: he knows how to handle the squad, especially the stars. I see above all a man who wants to learn," Mijatovic said.

"In each match, he makes choices. There are situations in which you have to improvise, react and he does that very well: By using players in positions that aren't their own to deal with an injury or a change in the system in relation to the opponent.

"Against Atletico, he made different changes to the ones everyone expected. He knows what he wants, he follows his own path and he's gaining in confidence. He takes decisions and that's what makes a great coach."

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