Zinedine Zidane Reportedly Given Madrid Stars' Support to Replace Rafa Benitez

A collection of Real Madrid's senior players have reportedly given Castilla coach Zinedine Zidane their backing to succeed under-fire manager Rafa Benitez at the club's helm, according to reports.

Alvaro de la Rosa of Spanish newspaper AS claimed if Real Madrid president Florentino Perez does decide to hand Benitez his marching orders, the club's dressing room will rally behind Zidane as the new boss.

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As a former Galacticos star, Zidane carries a certain reputation at the Santiago Bernabeu, and De la Rosa wrote some first-team players "have had their differences" with incumbent Benitez.

Real are currently two points behind La Liga leaders Barcelona, who boast a game in hand over their El Clasico rivals, and Yahoo's Andrew Gaffney declared Benitez could be axed before the end of 2015:

Los Merengues battered Rayo Vallecano 10-2 last Sunday, but that win only came after Real initially fell 2-1 behind their opponents, who finished with only nine men on the pitch.

Zidane has moved to distance himself from the first-team managerial role and Ivan Martin of Spanish daily Marca provided quotes from the Frenchman, who said Benitez is "doing a great job":

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There is no place for that question [about the Real Madrid hotseat] here. The team have a coach who is going about his work and I'm at Castilla; that's what we should be thinking about. I'm at Castilla and the first-team coach is with his group of players, with whom he's doing a great job.

What I can say is that the Real Madrid coach is doing a terrific job. Everyone piles in to criticise when you lose one or two games, but we're used to that. I'm only thinking about Castilla and the reserves. That's the way it's going to remain until the end of the season.

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The Real Madrid legend added he's "only thinking about Castilla" right now, but the more pressure grows on Benitez, the more prominent Zidane becomes as a potential candidate to replace him.

According to a recent poll by AS, a staggering 72 percent of fans want Zidane to take over at the helm, showing the Bernabeu is also behind him as a successor:

Player support is a huge factor at any club, perhaps Real more so than any. Benitez is alleged to have ruffled a few feathers not long after it was Jose Mourinho whose squad relationship was uneasy in Madrid.

The Portuguese was recently sacked by Chelsea following speculation of a rift with players. In his new book, Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography, Spanish expert Guillem Balague said Mourinho "almost came to blows" with his compatriot (h/t Telegraph).

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It's possible Benitez is but the latest to struggle with appeasing the superstars of the Bernabeu dressing room, but Zidane is a longer-term fixture at Real and may therefore have a better understanding of the players.

If Benitez is shown the Real Madrid exit, Zidane may well have won a major battle before even assuming what would be his first senior management role.