When Real Madrid began the season that would take them to their 14th European Cup final, a phrase kept being repeated. They had the good luck to have come under the management of an ‘hombre de la casa’, a man from in-house. Their coach was a madridista, who had spent his formative years within Real Madrid. That, said the president, Florentino Perez, was important.
That coach, Rafael Benitez, has just agreed to extend his latest gig somewhere quite a long way away, culturally and geographically from his native Madrid, at Newcastle of the English North-East and the Championship.
Benitez at Madrid did not work out, a marriage terminated after six months, and all the words about how significant had been his affection for the Madrid where he was once a youth player and an apprentice coach in the last century seemed empty.
His replacement, meanwhile, has not been fanfared so much with talk that he is an ‘hombre de la casa’, but in many ways, Zinedine Zidane, a French-born son of Algerians, is more recognisably madridista than Benitez.
He had been a great player for Madrid; Benitez, a high achiever as a coach in several countries, was not. “Zidane simply has an aura around him,” Gareth Bale, the Madrid striker told the broadcaster BT Sport. “Everyone respects him. Whatever he says, you have confidence in him.”
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For the second year in succession, and for the fifth year in the last eight, the Uefa Champions League, whose final takes play on Saturday with a Madrid derby in Milan, will be won by a manager with a distinguished playing history with the club he takes charge of.
Barcelona’s recent run of triumphs have been proudly achieved by Pep Guardiola, who grew up with Barca, and Luis Enrique, who played and captained the club; Chelsea’s win in 2012 came during the brief spell of Roberto Di Matteo, once a Chelsea midfielder.
Next in the list of in-housers will be Zidane, who played over 150 Primera Liga matches in Real Madrid’s colours, or Diego Simeone, who played more than 150 times for the Atletico Madrid he has coached for more than four years.
These men, to various degrees, have been able to capitalise on their playing pasts to go about their work with a line of credit in terms of support from fans, though that is always finite.
They can claim to ‘know the club,’ a familiarity which gives them a sixth sense of its internal politics, of who holds power and influence, a useful bank of wisdom in all large institutions.
But the in-house coach is no guarantor of popularity or success. It can be a risk: Manchester United this week decided against making Ryan Giggs, their Zidane, their new manager.
Zidane’s appointment was a risk, given that his only on-the-job experience as a coach when he was appointed to replace Benitez was working for 18 months, with an uneven record, with Castilla, the club’s youth team.
When Atletico made Simeone their man, they did so with more confidence. He had proved himself with Argentinian clubs, and had been a conspicuously vocal leader on the pitch as an Atletico player.
What Simeone has done is cultivate his past association with Atletico. He has emphasised his fellow-feeling with supporters, reminding them he played in front of them when they suffered with him in an ordinary, struggling team in the early part of the 21st century; he is cheerleader and crowd-cajoler on the touchline.
Zidane is less expressive in his technical area. Madridistas still know him best as the elegant footballer who won Madrid a Champions League with a sumptuous volley, 14 years ago, than as a coach with specific dogmas.
Atletico fans, by contrast now recognise ‘Cholo’ Simeone best as a motivator, a shrewd tactician than as a competitive former midfielder.
But fans from both sides of Madrid know equally what the pressure of big finals can do to both men. When Atletico lost to Real in Lisbon in the Champions League final two years ago, Simeone was sent by the referee to the stands as Real took control in extra time.
And Zidane’s last major final was one he played in, for France, a World Cup final in Berlin. It was his last match before retiring. He was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi. On Saturday, both the in-house coaches need to keep their cool.
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