Zinedine Zidane Looks to Keep Real Madrid on a Roll
Zinedine Zidane took over as manager of Real Madrid following the sacking of former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.
Real Madrid's newly-appointed manager Zinedine Zidane gets a chance to keep his team's momentum going in a home game against struggling Sporting Gijon in the Spanish La Liga this weekend. (Rafael Benitez Fired as Real Madrid Coach, Replaced by Zinedine Zidane)
After routing Deportivo La Coruna 5-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Zidane's debut as his head coach on Saturday, Madrid play an opponent that has lost seven of has last eight games, including the last four. (Sergio Ramos Happy to See Zinedine Zidane as Real Madrid Coach)
Sporting hasn't won a match since early December and are only 18th in the 20-team standings.
They have a game in hand, but it's against Barcelona. To make things worse, the team just found out that it will be without defender Bernardo Espinosa for about seven months because of a knee injury sustained last weekend. (Roberto Carlos All Set for a Backroom Staff Job at Real Madrid)
Madrid, meanwhile, are boosted by the arrival of Zidane, who breathed new life into the Spanish giants after they struggled under former manager Rafael Benitez.
Another victory under the command of the former player will keep fans satisfied and can move the team closer to the top of the table. At the halfway point, Madrid are third with 40 points, two less than Barcelona and four less than Atletico Madrid.
Zidane has had a full week to train the squad and try to reinforce his playing style, which is based on trying to retain ball possession and avoid long ball transitions from defence to attack.
The only bad news for the former France great going into Sunday's match at the Bernabeu is that captain Sergio Ramos is nursing a lingering shoulder injury that forced him to be substituted at halftime against Deportivo last Saturday.