How Does Zinedine Zidane Compare to Real Madrid's Successful Managers?

Zinedine Zidane's exceptional start to life as Real Madrid manager has the fans hoping for another sustained period of success under an idol, with the French boss already claiming the UEFA Champions League title and the UEFA Super Cup in his time in charge.

Less than a year into his reign, Zidane has won the respect of players, admiration of the Madrid media and, for a second time after also doing so as a player, the unflinching support of the club's fans.

The weekend will see him take charge of his 30th match as Real Madrid manager, at home to Celta Vigo in the first fixture to be played at the Santiago Bernabeu in the 2016/17 season—which has already started in impressive fashion.

With Zidane and his side aiming to win the title in LaLiga, and perhaps also retain their European title, he'll quickly be looking to be placed alongside some famous names in the club's history if he manages either.

The equivalent of three-quarters of a league season into his tenure, how does Zidane compare with those who came before him, and how much can fans believe the current boss can continue his early success?

The Candidates

A club who have won everything, multiple times, have plenty of historical figures to choose from. We've opted for two from the biggest glory days—the '50s and '60s—along with three more recent figures to offer contemporary balance to the argument.

Jose Villalonga was in charge of Real from December 1954 to the end of the '56/57 season, but even in that short time, he won two Liga titles and two European Cups.

Miguel Munoz had a brief, nine-game spell as caretaker manager (not included in his record given within this article as he was neither permanent boss nor coached a significant number of games) before taking over in his own right near the end of the '59/60 season.

He remained in place for almost 14 years, leaving in early '74. He won the Spanish championship nine times, two European Cups and other lesser titles over nearly 600 games in charge.

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Vicente del Bosque had enjoyed two caretaker spells, in 1994 (11 games, not included in his record below) and 1996 (one game, also not included), before finally taking over in his own right in late 1999.

Del Bosque remained as Real's head coach until the end of 2002/03, winning La Liga and the Champions League twice each in that time, along with other trophies.

Jose Mourinho is the first of our truly recent bosses selected; the now-Manchester United manager led the team from 2010/11 to 2012/13, and his three seasons yielded one La Liga title, the Copa del Rey and a Supercopa.

Finally, Carlo Ancelotti won the Champions League, Copa del Rey and Club World Cup as Real Madrid boss, taking over after Mourinho's departure and staying at the Bernabeu until the end of 14/15.

Inheritance

The scope for comparing bosses and gaining an insight into whether Zidane might be able to match those who came before him is vast, but with such an array of factors also comes the difficulty of assessing whose start was down to what came before them, as much as their own work.

While Mourinho's team was directly inherited by Ancelotti, none of our other chosen coaches followed each other. Like Zidane, Villalonga took over midway through a season, while Munoz took over a team that finished second. Del Bosque inherited a team that finished fifth the previous year and were only fourth at the midway stage of '99/00.

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Add in that the game of football and the expectation of managers has changed drastically—and indeed that society itself has changed dramatically with regard to such factors as professionalism, respect and worldwide attention to sport—and it's clear that a manager cannot have everything to do with his results, both positive and negative.

Each successful coach can only work with what he is given to start with, though, and it is there we focus our attentions.

For Zidane, Marca's Amalio Moratalla went as far recently as to offer similarities between Zidane's situation and that of Johan Cruyff at Barcelona: a former great player turned coach, offered licence to decide not because of a big contract or a heavy coaching CV but because of what they each represented.

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It was surely that representation of being a Real Madrid legend that got Zidane the job in the first place, as well as affording him the attention and the will to work from his squad...but it is results since then, and silverware, that have kept him in place.

Fast starts

Success comes after months or years for some, but it seems—at Real Madrid, at least—that haul of silverware can be predicted early on much of the time.

While former Spain boss Del Bosque, who arguably took over the weakest Real side, managed only a 50 per cent win rate in his first 30 competitive matches in charge, all the others were far more consistent in their early days—and, importantly, almost managed to keep up their win rate over the entirety of their tenure.

Manager	Wins in first 30	Win % in first 30	Total win %	Goals/game, first 30	Total g/g
Ancelotti	24	80	75	2.8	2.7
Mourinho	23	77	72	2.6	2.7
Munoz	23	77	59	2.9	2.0
Villalonga	19	63	63	2.3	2.6
Del Bosque	15	50	55	1.7	1.98

Zidane is currently 29 matches in and has won 23, a 79 per cent win rate equal to that of Ancelotti if Real Madrid beat Celta or equal to Mourinho and Munoz if they do not.

Perhaps most excitingly for present-day Madrid fans, Zidane's side are racking up the goals at an unstoppable rate of 3.4 per game—so their 3-0 win at Anoeta, impressive in both its tactical acumen and offensive clinical edge, was actually below par for Zidane's reign thus far. 

It's not likely to remain that way, of course, certainly over an entire year and more, but then again this is a side blessed with enormously talented front-line players.

It might be fair to put forward the defeats for each manager in the first 30 games, in a nod toward the changing face of Spanish football in recent seasons compared to yesteryear; Mourinho, Ancelotti and now Zidane have all suffered only two apiece—the rest all took at least one more.

The expectation to not lose, and then to win, means that every defeat is heavily scrutinised and used as ammunition to report a crisis at top clubs—and it's perhaps why some managers go to lengths to ensure they are hard to beat before they can dismantle opponents up front.

Beyond 30

That Zidane equals Ancelotti doesn't immediately signify he'll go on to have the same type of career as the Italian, though, of course, there are parallels to draw: The former was assistant to the latter when Madrid won La Decima, their 10th European Cup, to which Zidane added the 11th in May.

It's largely the same team from that time, too, and both men have enormous standing in the game from their time as players.

But Zidane can have confidence in himself that the signs are there that this is no flash in the pan, no freak enjoyment of an elongated bounce effect.

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Real Madrid got stronger last season as his time went on, they didn't fall away, and the initial games this season have shown the first evolution of Zidane as a coach, who can instruct his team to set up differently, play alternatively and not rely on the same faces.

Injury records don't show us data from the '50s and '60s, but Zidane is currently without one of the world's best players in Cristiano Ronaldo—but he also had Ronaldo for a large part of his first 30 games.

It isn't applicable only to this era, though: Villalonga had Alfredo Di Stefano and Francisco Gento, Del Bosque had Iker Casillas, Raul and Fernando Hierro.

Real Madrid have always had greats to offer their managers a chance of success. But only a certain few have managed to sustain it.

Zidane, not yet 30 games in and already with two trophies to his name, looks well capable of adding his name to the list.

Historical record for Munoz and Villalonga taken from WorldFootball.net. Recent records for Del Bosque, Mourinho, Ancelotti and Zidane from Transfermarkt.co.uk.

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