Real Madrid stars thriving under Zidane free reign

Ronaldo trains ahead of Champions League final

MADRID, May 25, (AFP): Just five months into his first senior managerial role, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is already living up to the unenviable task of matching his credentials as one of the finest players of his generation.

Fourteen years on from the sumptuous volley that rippled a rain-soaked net at Hampden Park in Glasgow to hand Real their ninth European Cup over Bayer Leverkusen, he can become just the seventh man to win the Champions League as a player and a coach with victory over Atletico Madrid at Milan’s San Siro on Saturday.

A repeat of the outcome when Real met Atletico in the only other Champions League final between two clubs from the same city two years ago would see Real extend their dominance as the most successful club in the competition’s history with an 11th win.

Zidane was also a part of the 10th. Two years ago in Lisbon he cut an animated figure as assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti as Sergio Ramos’s stoppage time header rescued Real before Los Blancos cut loose in extra-time to win 4-1.

That was the Frenchman’s final match as Ancelotti’s aid as he delved into the third tier of Spanish football with Real’s youth team Castilla to cut his teeth as a coach of his own merit.

The leap when he was then promoted to the top job at the Santiago Bernabeu to

Zidane