How Zinedine Zidane's all-round tactical masterclass guided Real Madrid to 33rd La Liga title

A week earlier, Zinedine Zidane in a press conference said that he knows that only silverware can save a manager’s job at Real Madrid. Switch back to 2002-03, Madrid had become the champions of Spain under Vicente del Bosque but club president Florentino Perez sacked him within 48 hours and also Madrid’s brick-in-midfield Claude Makelele to Chelsea. 

At the Bernabeau, winning silverware is not enough as Perez’s vision marries sporting success along with over-vaulting business ambitions to keep Real Madrid firm on the pedestal of being the biggest club in the world. Zidane continues to be Perez’s blue-eyed boy since his miraculous volley in Glasgow, and the fantastic relationship that he shares with the president has allowed him to iron out differences via dialogue and call the crucial shots which has helped Madrid clinch their 33rd league title after a gap of five years. 

Earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema; these four players were regarded as untouchables in the team-sheet even if they were not in top physical condition and exhausted at the burning end of the season after playing every weekend from August to March. Apart from the undisputed quality they bring to the pitch, the hallowed quadruple has also often been regarded as the ones who are closest to Perez. But, Zidane had a long-term vision and to bring it to fruition, Ronaldo and Benzema had to go on the bench from time to time. 

Zidane commanded monumental amount of respect in the dressing room, from the day he stepped in as Real Madrid’s manager and this was half the job done when he sat across the table with Ronaldo and Benzema to convince them that they must be benched regularly, so that they can come all guns blazing at the end of the season, when each game is a virtual final and any slip-up would result in missing out on a potential silverware. Surely, Ronaldo has delivered at the biggest moments, demolishing Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid in the Champions League and scoring in his last four appearances in the league.

But, you can only ask the big names to take a back seat when you have confidence that the squad players will be able to fill up the shoes of their more illustrious colleagues. Zidane did a fantastic job of getting the best out of the young guns like Lucas Vasquez, Marco Asensio and Alvaro Morata by employing a tactical fluidity when he chose to rotate in bulk. Often allowing Morata to play as a lone striker with James, Vasquez and Asensio in the attacking midfield and with Kovacic and Casemiro as the ball snatchers in a  4-2-3-1 system, Zidane put the pieces of the puzzle in the right place. 

Noble laureate T.S. Eliot said that April is the cruellest month and in football, championships are more or less decided in April. Madrid played nine times within a span of 27 days and they have lost only once, when Messi decided to breathe life into the race for the title by scoring in the 92nd minute in the Bernabeau. It is once again due to the likes of James, Vasquez and Asensio that Madrid have not slipped with every away fixture a potential banana skin.

The Spanish media keeps calling the rotated side the 'B' team but on the pitch they exuded quality which was no where less than the first team. Zidane's sky-scrapping belief in these boys helped Madrid conquer Ipurua, El Molinón, Butarque, Riazor and Los Cármenes, from where they picked up all the possible 15 points. 

Zidane is often accused as being 'lucky enough' to get the results, with the late strikes and even his maiden Champions League win was questioned just because Madrid won it in the tie-breakers. This league win will not only shut his critics up, but establish himself as one of the master tacticians of the game. In each of the games, he has tweaked his starting XI and his game-plan as per the opposition's merit and the monumental Champions League games against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid are testimony to that. Against Bayern, Madrid operated from the flanks using Marcelo and Carvajal's pace and trickery, but Carvajal's injury forced Madrid to operate from the middle of the park. Modric became the passing wizard, splitting up Atletico and Isco as a free agent ran riot in the attacking third operating just behind Ronaldo. 

Zidane believes in the perfect amalgamation of innovation and tradition. He has stuck to a back four, but has asked them to press high. He chooses Casemiro over James as he knows that somebody must anchor the midfield, when the trio of Kroos-Modric-Isco adds flair in attack. This has brought in a balance in the side which went missing when Makelele was sold off and David Beckham was brought in. 
Madrid have made scored 26 times from set-pieces and it is not surprising when you have Ronaldo, Ramos, Varane, Bale all attacking the inch-perfect balls sniped in by either Kroos or Modric. But until you implement training ground strategies on the pitch your players will be marked down by the opposition.

Here, Zidane along David Bettoni, his right-hand man, have developed a multiple combination approach, to be deployed depending on the opposition. If we follow closely there are two units, who hunt in pack. One comprises of Ronaldo, Bale and the other by Ramos, Pepe and Varane. Depending on the delivery and opposition each tries to draw players towards oneself, leaving at least one in the other unit free from markers. So, if Ronaldo and Bale rush towards the first post they will inevitably draw four players (or sometimes even more) towards them leaving the second unit free to attack the ball. Ramos is shielded by another Madrid shirt, who takes on Ramos' marker leaving the Spanish centre back to have a free run towards the ball. The whole mechanism can be carried out with the responsibilities varying according to opposition. 

Madrid had not lost to Malaga at the Rosaleda since 1983 and Ronaldo's opener within 100 seconds followed by Keylor Navas'  majestic performance under the sticks ensured Madrid their 33rd and more importantly the hopes for a potential double after 59 years remains alive.