Of Algerian nativity,not picked by his country in his early days as a player,even Tottenham and a couple of other clubs rejected him, but he finally turned out a super star midfielder for France and for his various clubs, including,Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid. He played with such elegance and poise and skill to match.

His name is Zinedine Zidane, "Zizou" he is fondly called. He retired from international football in 2006, after winning the golden ball in thesame year's World Cup, he had previously won the World Cup on homesoil in 1998, he scoring 2 goals to beat holders,Brazil, in the final.

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By 2012 he began stints as a coach,starting with the Real Madrid's U17 side. Before then he had been into football management and investing. In 2013 he worked in the Real Madrid senior team as an assistant to erudite Head coach, Mr.Carlo Ancelloti and in 2015(ie 2015/2016 season) he was appointed the Head coach of Real Madrid. This appointment is my focus today. I recall he was only 43-years-old then(a very young age for a senior coach) and had never coached a senior side before and thus was considered by many as a risk for arguably the most successful club in the world, Real Madrid, to embark on.

Well it turned out to be that Real Madrid knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the kind of brain they were hiring, it seemed that legendary Real Madrid coach,Carlo Ancelloti left part of himself in Zidane(that calm,that chemistry with players), then Zidane topped it with his attractive brand of attacking and possession based football, with good pressing to match. Zidane himself said:
“Football isn’t that complicated. It’s about passing. The higher up the pitch you play, the more dangerous you become. I’m on the players’ side. I listen to them,”

That's a typical Zidane for you, how he makes complicated things seem easy on the eye. He is also very willing to adapt his style to unique challenges the opposition throws at him,so there becomes that unpredictability about his style. This is not a day to go into technical matters, but I will end on this aspect by saying, such was Zidane's genius that he doesn't fit into the mould of any of the conventional managers you see, he is absolutely unique.

COMMEMORATE

It was on this day 7 years ago that Real Madrid staffed him as their Manager. He succeeded! Nay not just success, he superceded the expectations of even the Real Madrid's hierarchy and set records never before seen in football history.

He won:
2 La Liga trophies 🏆🏆
2 Spanish Super cop trophies 🏆 🏆
2 UEFA Super Cup trophies 🏆 🏆
2 Club World Cup trophies 🏆 🏆
3 Champions league trophies 🏆 🏆 🏆

Please note that those three Champions league trophies were consecutive trophies! No other coach in history has achieved this. What a person, what a coach and that saying that a great player, can't become a great coach was absolutely battered by him.

It was 7 years ago today,the beginning of a strange wonder began.

Happy Birthday Zidane, as it were.

Cheers