Real Madrid

Real Madrid announced Friday that manager Zinedine Zidane has tested positive for COVID-19.

ESPN's Adriana Garcia reported Zidane, 48, must isolate for 10 days and won't receive clearance to return until he's recorded at least one negative coronavirus test result.

Assistant coach David Bettoni told reporters he's been in contact with Zidane ahead of Saturday's La Liga match against Alaves:

"I spoke to [Zidane] this morning and he is doing well. He loves football and it's his passion. He remains happy to coach this great club. Even if he isn't with us physically these days, he will be with us. The fine details of how we organise [Zidane's communication with the team] will remain internal. But, he will be here with us. Even if not physically, he'll be here with his energy. We'll see how we do it tomorrow. The important thing is that everyone knows he'll be with us."

Real Madrid are coming off a shocking 2-1 loss to Segunda Division B side Alcoyano in the Copa del Rey round of 32 on Wednesday.

Zidane had downplayed the magnitude of the upset despite posting the club's worst result in the tournament since 2009.

"It's not an embarrassment—it's something that can always happen in football," he told reporters. "Something like this can happen in a footballer's career, but I take responsibility for it, and we'll keep on working. We're not going to go crazy over this."

Mario Cortegana of Goal reported the Frenchman retained "full support" of the Real Madrid board following the loss.

Zidane is in his second stint as the club's manager. He resigned in May 2018 after Los Blancos' third successive UEFA Champions League triumph but returned in March 2019 after Santiago Solari's dismissal.

Real Madrid are second in La Liga, seven points behind Atletico Madrid, and in the knockout stages of the UCL. Their next appearance in the latter competition is scheduled for February 24 against Italian side Atalanta in the round of 16.

Real Madrid star Karim Benzema will stand trial after being charged with conspiracy to attempt blackmail, according to Samuel Petrequin of the Associated Press. 

A trial date has not yet been set.

Benzema was initially charged in 2015 after being accused of playing a role in blackmailing former France international teammate Mathieu Valbuena, who reportedly appeared in a sex tape.

Investigators believe Benzema was approached by a childhood friend to "act as an intermediary and persuade Valbuena to deal directly with the blackmailers." He was also suspected of pressuring Valbuena to pay the blackmailers.

Valbuena went to the police instead, leading to charges for Benzema and a night spent in jail in 2015.

After the initial charges, Benzema was left out of the French national team squad, and he was not part of the squad's run to the World Cup title in 2018 and hasn't played with the team since 2015. He has remained an elite player for his club, tallying 261 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid over 12 seasons.

Benzema has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

"This decision is as much absurd as it was predictable," his lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told the AP.

Real Madrid announced winger Eden Hazard and midfielder Casemiro tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

"All of the other first-team players and coaching staff, as well as the club employees who work directly with the squad tested negative in yesterday's tests," Saturday's statement read. "Meanwhile, all of them, apart from Casemiro and Hazard, once again tested negative in the antigen tests taken this morning."

Both players practiced with the club Friday before the positive tests were processed, per Goal. They will consequently be unavailable for Sunday's La Liga match against Valencia.

Hazard only recently returned to a squad after missing nearly a month with a leg injury suffered in late September. He scored in a 4-1 victory over Huesca on Oct. 31.

"It was a good goal," Hazard told reporters. "I'm happy for the team and for myself. When you score you get extra confidence. I'm tired, I want to play more games. My peak fitness will come with the matches and we've got another one in a few days. We need to keep training and be ready."

He hadn't scored since October 2019, partly because of a series of injuries.

Meanwhile, Casemiro had appeared in all 10 of the team's La Liga and UEFA Champions League matches during the 2020-21 campaign.

The Brazilian defensive midfielder scored late in stoppage time to secure a UCL draw against German side Borussia Monchengladbach in October. It's his only goal of the term.

The international break arrives after Sunday's match, so it's possible both players will only miss one club fixture. Los Blancos return to action Nov. 21 against Villarreal.

Eden Hazard's status for Real Madrid's match against Barcelona on Oct. 25 is in doubt, according to ESPN's Rodrigo Faez and Alex Kirkland. 

Madrid released a statement on Wednesday but provided little in the way of specifics: "Following tests carried out today on our player, Eden Hazard, by Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a muscle injury in his right leg. His recovery will continue to be assessed."

Faez and Kirkland reported the Belgian attacker could be out for three to four weeks, a timeframe that would include El Clasico.

Hazard signed for Madrid in June 2019 for around €100 million and had what he called "the worst season of my career." He made 16 La Liga and six Champions League appearances, registering a total of one goal and four assists.

Prior to 2019-20, the 29-year-old had averaged 35 domestic appearances over his previous 11 seasons between Lille and Chelsea. While his on-field performance was an occasional question mark at Chelsea, his durability was never in doubt.

Now, injuries are becoming a problem for Hazard.

📈 48% of the matches that Eden Hazard has missed through injury, during his 687 game career, have been whilst playing for Real Madrid.

🤕 The club has confirmed he’ll miss the next four weeks with a muscle injury. pic.twitter.com/QVa3IehuFu

— Sporting Index (@sportingindex) September 30, 2020

🥴 Eden Hazard has only started 14 of a possible 40 league matches for Real Madrid since joining from Chelsea in a €160M deal

🚑 He now faces another 4 weeks out injured.

👀 During his time in the Premier League, Hazard was fouled more times pg (2.6) than any other player pic.twitter.com/3TkjdWnuzT

— WhoScored (@WhoScored) September 30, 2020

Real Madrid captured their 34th league title last year, but there's no question they'd benefit greatly from seeing Hazard back to his usual self.

The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo is glaring in the Madrid attack. Madrid finished with 94 La Liga goals in 2017-18, Ronaldo's final season. That figure dropped to 63 and 70 over each of the past two years.

Karim Benzema was fantastic in 2019-20, scoring 21 goals, but centre-back Sergio Ramos was Madrid's second-leading goalscorer. He had 11, six of which came from the penalty spot. James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale have left, while Luka Jovic might be joining them out the door.

That puts pressure on Hazard to yield some sort of return, but it could be a repeat of his last campaign if he can't return to fitness soon.

Real Madrid entertained Atletico Madrid in the league in February at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Nothing could separate the teams in the two times they had already met during the season. Twice they finished normal time scoreless (Real Madrid defeated Atletico after a penalty shootout in the previous month's Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia).

At half-time in their battle at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane called for Vinicius Junior from the bench as part of a double substitution to try to break the deadlock. Ten minutes after coming on, the young Brazilian collected a pass close to the touchline on the left wing. After looking up a couple of times, it seemed there wasn't an option on.

Then, with the slightest dip of his shoulder, he threw his marker and threaded a pass through to Ferland Mendy, who broke behind Atletico's defence. One short pass had immediately taken three defenders out of the game. Mendy crossed to Karim Benzema who tapped in at the back post to score the match-winner. There's something special, something different, about Vinicius Junior.

"At Real Madrid, they view him as a diamond in the rough," says Jaime Rodriguez, a journalist with El Mundo. "He's like a wild animal. He obviously doesn't have the finesse, the beautiful skills, the natural talent of a Messi or a Neymar, but he has other virtues—his speed, his physique, his cheekiness. He unsettles defences. For me, he's the best dribbler—along with Neymar—that there is in the world of football.

"Here's a guy who for a period last season—when he was only 18 years of age—carried the team on his back, for example at the Camp Nou [against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey]. At Real Madrid, they're clear he's a good bet for the future, and they won't let him escape. It's not only Real Madrid who believe in his potential. He's valued in many quarters. I can prove from different sources that last year PSG would only consider negotiating for Neymar if Vinicius was included as a makeweight. He's just missing a bit of steadiness in the box."

Scoring has been a problem for Vinicius. Since joining Real Madrid's first-team squad towards the start of last season—after his move from Brazil was fast-tracked—he's only scored four goals in 37 games. 

Zidane has not always been convinced by Vinicius Junior, although he was getting into his groove—which included scoring the opening goal against Barcelona in a 2-0 win at the Bernabeu in March—when the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to Spanish football. Since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure from Real Madrid in the summer of 2018, Vinicius has been a saviour figure at the club.

"There's a refrain we use here in Spain: 'In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king,'" says Marco Ruiz, a journalist with Diario AS. "Vinicius stands out a lot in Real Madrid's squad for this quality. He's anarchic, but he's missing the killer touch. He has an alarming deficit when it comes to finishing. If he suddenly starts to score goals, he'll become a super player, but if he doesn't, he won't become a regular in Real Madrid's team."

Spanish football writer, Juanma Trueba, is unsure whether goalscoring is something that can be added to his armoury: "I have doubts about him. When he's in a scoring position, it's like there's a black out. He fluffs chances. It could be anxiety. When he scores, they're often flukes. 

"Goalscoring is not something you can learn. It's extremely rare that a footballer who doesn't score goals early in his career starts to score goals regularly later in his career. Aritz Aduriz [the 39-year-old Athletic Bilbao striker who retired last week] is a case, for example, but he's an exception to the rule.

"Vinicius is a player that has the favour of the Bernabeu. He excites fans. Every time he touches the ball you notice emotion welling up in the stadium. They know he's a player that creates danger. You can see he's being used as a symbol for hope. If things are going bad for the club, they have Vinicius, a young guy who can get the stadium on its feet. He's exuberant. He communicates with the terraces. It's why they love him.

"For his development, though, it would be good for him to go out on loan because when Real Madrid can call on a fully fit Eden Hazard again, there won't be much room for another player in that position on the left side of Real Madrid's attack. It would give him time to mature."

Luka Jovic is another attacking player who's seemingly at a crossroads at Real Madrid. He's only scored twice in 23 games since joining for a reported €60 million fee during the summer.

"He looks a little bit lost on the pitch," says Rodriguez, "but it's not only him—his team-mates don't look for him when they have the ball or they can't find him with a pass. He's like a Martian in Madrid's attack."

Jovic's standing at the club hit a new low in March when he was overlooked by Zidane for the Clasico matchday squad. The club's third-choice centre-forward, Mariano Diaz, got the nod over him, coming on as a substitute for Benzema in injury time (and scoring a minute after coming on).

"Jovic has been a huge disappointment," says Ruiz. "Last year, he had a really good season with Eintracht Frankfurt. He scored a lot [27 goals in 48 games], but he looks like a different player at Real Madrid. The goals have dried up. It's like the club just threw €60 million in the bin. 

"Real Madrid's problem is that it can't buy a good forward because it already has Benzema. Jovic is still only 22. He could be a great striker in the future, but he's not the centre-forward that Real Madrid need. He's not one of the top five strikers in the world. He's not even close."

Jovic's behaviour off the pitch hasn't helped. His indiscipline includes breaking the coronavirus lockdown in his native Serbia. He was caught celebrating his girlfriend's birthday on the streets of Belgrade, an indiscretion that prompted the country's president, Aleksandar Vucic, to threaten him with arrest.

There is, however, a thought—laid out in a front-page feature earlier in the week in Marca—that Jovic might benefit from a second chance. The report cited the slow start Benzema—who has also had his off-field problems—had to his career at the club. It wasn't until Benzema's third season that the Frenchman hit his stride. Trueba is sceptical, believing the comparison with Benzema doesn't stand up.

"Benzema ultimately triumphed at the club because he has a lot of quality," says Trueba. "We thought at the start that as well as having quality he was also a prolific goalscorer, but it wasn't the case. He doesn't have the ambition to be a goalscorer. He felt comfortable being a sidekick to Cristiano Ronaldo. Benzema also has the favour of the president, which facilitated his evolution. He was never questioned inside the club. It gave him confidence. He could benefit from the patience of the club's coaches.

"Sure, a player needs time before you can make a proper assessment, but in the case of Real Madrid when you see a player in the white jersey, and you see them on the pitch with the team, you know if they fit. Jovic is one of these footballers who doesn't fit at Real Madrid. He looks rigid. He lacks experience. He looks out of his depth. It was a mistake by Zidane—who pushed to get him signed. As well as not scoring, he's not connecting with madridismo [Real Madrid's fans]. People are disappointed with him. Not a single person will feel sadness if he leaves Real Madrid."

One of the 42 players on Real Madrid's books, and one of 14 on loan, who might well prosper at the club is the 21-year-old Norwegian playmaker Martin Odegaard. He's been a sensation this season at Real Sociedad, having joined the Basque club in the summer on a two-year loan deal (with the option to return to Real Madrid in the summer). He scored a winner against Mallorca in only his second game and has had a hand in 12 goals in 27 games for the club.

"Odegaard has some very good attributes," says Rodriguez. "It looks like he's got everything needed to triumph at Real Madrid if he continues his rate of progression. He can play as a No. 10, or in Luka Modric's position, closer to midfield. He can score goals. He's fast. He can dribble. He looks as if he'll succeed when he returns.

"At Real Madrid, they're thinking about bringing him back when the season finishes, but it's dependent on the departure of Modric. For Zidane, Modric is fundamental. He has a lot of respect for him. They're thinking Modric might leave this summer for Inter Milan, but it's up in the air.

"If there aren't departures this summer, it's better he stays on loan for one more year, especially after such a strange season. His season at Real Sociedad has gone well so far, but it's not finished yet. Let's see how he gets on in the last 11 games of the season. If he stays at the same level, and finishes one of the stars of La Liga, you couldn't discount Real Madrid incorporating him for next season's squad."

It hasn't been an easy road for Odegaard. He joined Real Madrid five years ago to huge fanfare. He came on as a substitute for Ronaldo in the final game of the 2014-15 season at the Bernabeu, making him the youngest league debutant in Real Madrid's history at 16 years and 157 days. Then things went awry. He spent a few years in the wilderness, including a difficult time with the team's reserves before turning a corner during two loan spells in the Netherlands with Heerenveen and Vitesse Arnhem, respectively.

The big question now relates to whether he can take the next step. Trueba thinks he's ready to come back to the Bernabeu this summer, but it's impossible to know whether he can thrive at Real Madrid until he's properly tested there. Ruiz concurs.

"Odegaard is very creative," says Ruiz. "He plays in that hole between attack and midfield. Real Madrid has a lot of players of this kind, but his timing could be good. Modric is in the final stretch of his career, so there's a space opening up in Real Madrid's squad. He'd have to compete for this place with Isco and Dani Ceballos.

"It's taken a while for Odegaard to explode. He's a player that still has to demonstrate he has it. At Real Sociedad, he's played very well, but he hasn't been under pressure. We have to see how he'll cope at Real Madrid. Until he plays regularly at the Bernabeu, we won't know if he's the top player he seems he could be." 

                 

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz

Richard Witschge is emphatic. Did the former Netherlands winger see any signs that Zinedine Zidane would go on to become a successful coach during the three years they spent playing together at Bordeaux?

"No," Witschge tells Bleacher Report. "I didn't think so. Because he was very...not shy, but he didn't want the attention. I played for three years with him at Bordeaux, and he went on to be one of the best in the world. But I didn't know that he was going to become a coach."

Witschge's remarks reflect a common refrain among Zidane's former team-mates. It can be little surprise that many of them did not see the Frenchman's transformation coming when the man himself has admitted that after hanging up his boots in 2006, moving to the dugout could not have been further from his mind.

Yet move to the dugout he did, dipping a toe in the water at Real Madrid as sporting director, assistant coach and manager of the club's reserve team before taking the plunge in January 2016 after Rafael Benitez was sacked as head coach. Even his most ardent admirers could not have predicted the success that would follow, as Zidane led Madrid to three consecutive Champions League triumphs (an unprecedented feat for a coach), as well as a pair of FIFA Club World Cup crowns and, in 2016-17, a first La Liga success in five years.

When he returned to the Bernabeu for his second stint as head coach in March 2019, it was as one of the most decorated coaches in the game.

Zidane's own initial reluctance to become a coach, allied to a commonly held perception that he was not manager material, makes the success he has enjoyed all the more surprising. But take a closer look at his extraordinary playing career, and it transpires that as he made his way in the game, elements of his future vocation were falling into place without him—or anybody else—even realising.

He first met David Bettoni, who works as his assistant at Madrid, when they were playing together in the youth ranks at his formative club, Cannes. Stephane Plancque, Madrid's opposition analyst, first crossed his path as a team-mate at Bordeaux. Zidane first encountered Antonio Pintus, the fitness coach he would later hire at Madrid, when he joined Juventus from Bordeaux in 1996. The leading man may have been slow to express an interest in the starring role, but the supporting cast was already waiting in the wings.

As a player, Zidane was famously undemonstrative, a silent, brooding figure gliding balletically through opposition defences, the mask of inscrutability only slipping during the episodic outbursts of violence that pockmarked his career. But beneath the surface, he was watching, listening and absorbing in a manner that would not become fully apparent until he made the transition to coach.

"With hindsight, you can understand why he became a coach," says Madrid-based sports journalist Frederic Hermel, whose biography of Zidane—entitled simply Zidane—was published last year. "He was a sponge. He listened an awful lot. He wasn't someone who spoke very much, but he listened and he observed."

Seen from a distance, Zidane's taciturn nature might have seemed an obstacle to a career as a top-level coach, but those who have worked with him closely say that rather than a weakness, it is merely an indication that he values listening over speaking.

"He stores things up so he can then reproduce them," Guy Lacombe, one of Zidane's first coaches in the Cannes youth academy, told So Foot in 2017. "It's his first quality, furthermore, and the one that makes him the man he is: a listener who soaks up the words of others and knows how to learn. You don't find that very often."

While he may have been reserved in day-to-day life, Zidane took centre stage on the pitch, first at Cannes and then at Bordeaux, where he emerged as the most talented player in the French game. He was only 23 when he helped Bordeaux reach the UEFA Cup final in 1996, but in a sign of his influence, Witschge remembers him coming into the changing room to "pump up the team" ahead of the first leg against Bayern Munich, for which he was suspended. (Bordeaux lost 2-0 in Munich in Zidane's absence, and he was powerless to prevent a 3-1 defeat when he returned for the second leg a fortnight later.)

In spite of his tender age, there were also signs that he already possessed strong convictions about how football should be played.

"He liked attacking, attractive, technical football," recalls Witschge, who had previously played for Ajax and Barcelona. "Good football. That's how he played. He always said he liked the style of Ajax and also Barcelona at the time, the style of Johan Cruyff. We talked about it, the style of football and how the youth teams played at Ajax. He was interested in those kinds of things."

Whatever Zidane might have thought he knew about football, he received a rude awakening upon arriving at Juventus in the summer of 1996. He was shocked by the intensity of the fitness drills he encountered in his first pre-season, and Portuguese left-back Dimas, who joined Juve from Benfica a few months later, recalls being similarly taken aback himself.

"To tell you the truth, it was a nightmare, physically," Dimas tells Bleacher Report. "For the Italians, it was their day-to-day. They were examples. Guys who'd been there for years: [Ciro] Ferrara, [Moreno] Torricelli, [Angelo] Di Livio, [Attilio] Lombardo, [Gianluca] Pessotto. I can't think of an Italian player who was a lazy guy. Even [Alessandro] Del Piero, with all his quality, worked like an animal. You just had to do it too. It helped me be a better player, and it surely helped Zidane be a better player as well."

Working under lead fitness coach Giampiero Ventrone, Pintus helped to set the gruelling tempo of the squad's physical work. Two decades later, Zidane appointed him as his strength and conditioning coach at Madrid in 2016, and the Italian's exacting fitness sessions laid the foundations for the league and Champions League double that would follow the season after.

Zidane also used his understanding of the game's physical side to convince Cristiano Ronaldo that sitting out occasional league games would enable him to hit peak form in the Champions League knockout rounds, as the Portuguese forward did to spectacular effect in each of his last two seasons at the Bernabeu.

Beyond the energy-sapping work that he had to put in on the training ground at Juventus, what stuck with Zidane was the winning culture at the club. Head coach Marcello Lippi created an environment in which only the highest standards would be tolerated, and just as for his France team-mate Didier Deschamps, who arrived in Turin two years before him, it had a lasting impact on Zidane's conception of the game.

"It was in Italy that he learned about top-level competition in every sense," Hermel tells Bleacher Report. "He learned about competitiveness as a player in Italy, and he also learned what it took to plan a season, with lots of physical work in the summer and again just after the winter break. As a coach, he's an Italian."

By the time Zidane joined Madrid in the summer of 2001 in a transfer that made him the most expensive player in football history, he was already a world and European champion with France, a double Serie A champion, a Ballon d'Or winner and a two-time FIFA World Player of the Year. The unforgettable volley he scored against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow at the end of his first season, which gave Madrid their ninth European Cup, further cemented his legacy as an all-time great.

As he made his way through the Madrid youth ranks in the early 2000s, Alvaro Mejia idolised Zidane from afar. The young centre-back broke into Madrid's first-team squad during the 2003-04 season and discovered that although Zidane would make his displeasure plain when he felt the team's performance levels were not up to scratch, he was also eager to pass on advice to younger players.

"I remember some games when he was very upset," Mejia tells Bleacher Report. "Like the Champions League quarter-final against Monaco [in 2004, which Madrid lost on away goals]. He had the character of a winner, and he would show that, even in training. When the situation was going wrong, he was always the first to speak to the players and say, 'Hey, what's going on here?'

"But I also remember many times him coming to me and giving me advice on how to read the game or how to be ready for certain things. Like how to break a line with a pass. Never loud or shouting at me in a bad way. If he saw something from you that was not good, he'd come to you and tell you in a quiet way, to try to improve you."

Zidane's achievements on the pitch, coupled with the relationships he formed with key Madrid players while working as Carlo Ancelotti's assistant in the 2013-14 campaign, meant that by the time he was appointed as Benitez's successor in early 2016, he already had the full respect of the changing room. By intelligently cultivating those changing-room bonds, he laid the foundations for the staggering success that would follow over the next two-and-a-half years.

From a tactical perspective, Zidane has not reinvented the wheel. His approach is all about creating a solid defensive structure and granting his attacking players liberty to express themselves.

Hermel, who has gotten to know Zidane well during the Madrid coach's 19 years in the Spanish capital, describes him as a tactical "pragmatist" whose reluctance to discuss his team's tactics in public reflects a belief—developed during his time in Italy—that "secrecy is a part of strategy." Still scarred by his experiences of having to sit through interminable team talks as a player, Zidane keeps his tactical instructions punchy and to the point.

"When I was a footballer, I hated it when the coach gave long team talks," he tells Hermel in Zidane. "It was the same for my team-mates, who stopped listening after 10 minutes. So today, when I have to speak to a player, I restrict myself to one or three instructions and always finish with, 'Now go and enjoy yourself on the pitch.' Nothing more, nothing less."

Where Zidane excels as a coach is in reading the mood in the changing room and transmitting his own personal calmness to his players. For Dimas, who spent two years playing alongside Zidane at Juventus, it is an approach redolent of the way Lippi went about his work.

"I think he learned this with Lippi," says the former Portugal international. "Because Lippi was this type of coach. Very calm. Very aggressive when he had to take big decisions. But most of the game, he'd give you the tranquillity of saying, 'You guys are playing and you know what to do.' That's what I see [with Zidane]. He's not always on top of his players. He lets them do their thing. When there's a goal, he shows emotion. But he tries to give calmness to the team to let them play."

Mejia, who left Madrid in 2007 and is now playing in Qatar, adds: "As a player, he always found the best way to speak to other players, and as a coach, he's doing the same thing. He gets control of the changing room through speaking to the players, and on the other hand, he has the winning character that he gives to his players. It's the perfect balance."

An iron fist in a velvet glove. Just as he was as a player, so Zidane is as a coach.

In the dying minutes of 2011's Spanish Super Cup final second leg at the Camp Nou, a fight broke out between the players and coaching staff of Barcelona and Real Madrid close to the halfway line. It was an unholy sight. About 20 seconds into the brawl, Real Madrid's then-manager Jose Mourinho drifted into the melee. He made a beeline for Tito Vilanova, Barcelona's assistant coach—who died three years later from throat cancer—and gouged him in the eye from behind.

As Mourinho fled the scene of the crime, Vilanova turned and pushed him in the back of the neck. Dressed in a white shirt and with his head shaved, Mourinho's bodyguard stepped in to stop Vilanova from getting any further. Later in the press conference, Mourinho was asked about the incident with Tito. He said he didn't know who "Pito" was. Pito is slang in Spanish for prick. 

Real Madrid's hardcore fans loved Mourinho for it. A week later, in the final pre-season game before the league kicked off, Real Madrid entertained Galatasaray at the Santiago Bernabeu. Directly in front of the directors' box, there was a huge banner that celebrated the devilment of Mourinho. It read: "Mou, your finger shows us the way."

One thing standing in Mourinho's way, however, was Barcelona. They had beaten Real Madrid 5-4 in the Spanish Super Cup. In seven encounters since Mourinho had taken charge at Real Madrid, he had only managed to beat Pep Guardiola's team once—in an engrossing 2011 Copa del Rey final at the Mestalla, which was decided by a towering Cristiano Ronaldo header in extra time. At the time, Barca had just won three league titles on the bounce and were reigning UEFA Champions League holders.

"I didn't have confidence in Real Madrid at this moment," says Oscar Sanz, a journalist with El Pais. "It was very surprising that the team went on to win 'La Liga de los Records,' breaking all these records, amassing 100 points in the league—which Barcelona equalled the following season—and shattering the goals scored record.

"That team of Mourinho's scored 121 goals, beating the old record of 107—also held by Real Madrid—in the 1989-90 season. Nobody saw this coming, especially because Mourinho is renowned for being a defensive coach, but he demonstrated that season it wasn't true. It suggests that all the controversies generated by Mourinho benefited Real Madrid in the end."

As well as his dirty tricks, Mourinho had a squad that was stocked with FIFA World Cup champions (including Iker Casillas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos and future winners Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira), Ballon d'Or winners (Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka) and talents such as Pepe, Marcelo and Karim Benzema, players who would end the decade with pockets full of UEFA Champions League winners medals.

Ronaldo was at the peak of his powers. He scored 46 goals in the league campaign. It was an extraordinary haul, and the most prolific season of his career. Remarkably, his tally included hat-tricks in both Madrid derbies (which only represent a fraction of the goals he's scored while tormenting Atletico Madrid over a 10-year period).   

For sheer gall, one goal stood out. In Real Madrid's last game in February 2012, they made the short hop to the Vallecas Stadium to play Rayo Vallecano. The game was deadlocked when Ronaldo decided the game early in the second half. Real Madrid won a corner kick, which Ozil took. The ball bobbled in the box until it scuttled away from the penalty spot.

Ronaldo followed it and then, with his back to goal and with seemingly nothing on, he hopped once on his left foot to give himself enough lift-off to stab a fierce backheel with his right foot from eight yards out. It all happened so quickly and was such an unexpected manoeuvre that it caught Rayo's defence off-guard. The ball flew into the bottom corner of the net while Rayo's goalkeeper, Joel Robles, stood rooted to the ground.

That 1-0 win against Rayo was in the middle of an 11-game winning streak. One of their most distinctive traits was their solidity. They were a team stocked with hardened professionals who never took a step backwards. They bullied teams and could depend on either Benzema or Gonzalo Higuain, who each broke the 20-goal mark for the La Liga season, as well as Ronaldo, to complete the job.

"Real Madrid that season were a very physical team—aggressive, but not violent," says Tomas Roncero, a journalist with Diario AS. "For it to function—and to beat Barca in particular, a team which was playing like a violin at the time under Guardiola—it needed 11 players who were united and committed. Maybe because of the importance of this structure, Cristiano was more liberated in attack, but the rest of them used to go at opposition teams like they were in the army.

"Rival teams took note. Real Madrid never lost a physical battle. When Real Madrid went to Pamplona in March, for example. In other times, it used to be a hostile stadium where Osasuna fans intimidated Real Madrid, but not this team. They ate them, scoring five goals. It was because Real Madrid were more superior in the physical battle. They were warriors. Men like Sami Khedira, Pepe, Ramos. They were very difficult to beat."

Guardiola's Barcelona team—which had Lionel Messi at his most destructive and in the middle of scoring 50 league goals over the season—still had the upper hand over Mourinho. In December 2011, the teams met in the league at the Bernabeu, which Barcelona won 3-1.

The two teams met again at the same stadium in the Copa del Rey a month later—in a game that became notorious for Pepe's stamping on Messi's hand. Barca won again, 2-1 this time, which, after a 2-2 draw in the second leg, was enough for Barca to progress to the next round.

Mourinho—who Barcelona rejected when they appointed the then-novice coach Guardiola as head coach instead of him in 2008—was at breaking point. After the second leg of the cup tie at the Camp Nou, he waited in the car park, which is in the bowels of the stadium, and was photographed waiting to criticise the referee for his performance.

"The rivalry between Real Madrid and Barca, and Mourinho and Guardiola, was very intense at the time," says Roncero. "Mourinho knew how to rouse Real Madrid's fans. In Mourinho's first two seasons in charge, Real Madrid's fans listened to him. They agreed with his grievances—the mistakes that referees were making, the unfair fixture list, and so on. Before Mourinho arrived, fans felt ignored by the club. The club acted—under the direction of its president Florentino Perez—politically correctly.

"Most of time, everyone seemed against Real Madrid. People liked Barca more because of their tiki-taka style of play with Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Messi. It looked like everybody wanted Barca to win. Real Madrid were persecuted. Mourinho criticised Barca in public, in press conferences. The tension he generated passed to the pitch, and from there to the terraces. It led to a period we call 'the storm of clasicos'—a run of Madrid-Barca games each season that aroused spectacular attention and lots of controversy."

In the league title race, things came to a head when the teams met at the Camp Nou in late April 2012 on a balmy evening. There were only four rounds of games left to play after this match, and Real Madrid had the upper hand—Barca trailed Mourinho's side by four points. It was D-Day.

Khedira gave Real Madrid an early lead with a scrappy goal scored from a corner. Midway through the second half, Alexis Sanchez equalised for Barcelona. A minute later, Ozil provided the assist of the season—a 40-yard pass into the path of Ronaldo, which was hit with such nonchalance that it hoodwinked Barcelona's central defenders, Javier Mascherano and Carles Puyol. 

Ronaldo celebrated his goal—which effectively decided the league title race—with his famous hand-waving "calm down, Cristiano is here" message to the TV cameras assembled by the corner flag. The ingenuity from Ozil—who provided 17 assists, the most of any player in La Liga that season—was instrumental.

"Mesut Ozil had the best season of his career without a doubt," says Sanz. "He was key to everything Real Madrid did. Mourinho did something very risky in deploying Ozil because he wasn't a defensively minded player, obviously, but Mourinho constructed a barrier in the centre of the pitch with Khedira and Xabi Alonso around him so Ozil had total freedom. His back was covered."

Real Madrid's 2-1 win was the club's first league victory at the Camp Nou since 2007. The club wrapped up the league title with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames with a couple of games to spare. It was the high point of Mourinho's reign at the club. He managed to put a stop to Guardiola's dominance in Spain. The Catalan coach left Barcelona at the end of the season and—exhausted—took a year's sabbatical from the game.

"Mourinho's three years at Real Madrid were not a success," says Roncero. "For me, his only success was 'the league of the records' because it was against the greatest Barcelona team of its history and with great statistics and great football. It had a lot of merit, but the achievement is not that high in the affections of Real Madrid's fans.

"Real Madrid's 'Quinta del Buitre' team in the 1980s didn't win a European Cup, but it was the best team that I saw in my life playing football. In attack, it was a continuous symphony. The Real Madrid team that won five European Cups in a row with Alfredo di Stefano, Paco Gento, Ferenc Puskas was a machine. Di Stefano played in five consecutive European Cup finals and scored in each of them. It's something that Messi or Cristiano or Pele never achieved.

"Real Madrid's 'Galacticos' team was surely a worse team than Mourinho's Real Madrid, but it was more charming. If you see on the pitch at the same time, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Luis Figo and Raul passing the ball to each other, it's something to behold. Real Madrid's season of the records in 2011-2012 was fantastic, but it lacked some charm, the power to seduce you. It's a rung below the other great Real Madrid teams in its history."

          

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz

It was two years ago that Real Madrid first began to think about buying Harry Kane.

As Cristiano Ronaldo made a move across Europe to join Juventus, there became a sudden need for a new goalscoring Galactico.

They looked at the very elite—Neymar Jr., Kylian Mbappe and Eden Hazard were all there. Robert Lewandowski, too. But so was Tottenham striker Kane.

Intermediaries working on behalf of Madrid reached out at that time to get a feel of what it would take to land Kane, but the answer was not welcoming. Spurs valued him at £200 million, and, more than that, chairman Daniel Levy wasn't keen on talking even at that price. 

So Madrid walked away and eventually signed Hazard from Chelsea in 2019 as their new superstar, adding Luka Jovic as back-up striker to Karim Benzema.

But that Ronaldo void still remains.

Hazard and Jovic have scored just three goals between them this season. And, now, as Kane raises doubts about his future at Spurs, there is a feeling Madrid might take another look in his direction.

Harry Kane was honest about his Tottenham future 👀 pic.twitter.com/VPm2nXNdot

— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 29, 2020

Chairman Levy believes he owns one of world football's most complete strikers, and the message being delivered by sources around the club right now is that even in these difficult times, he'll take some persuading to budge on Kane's valuation.

With football on hold due to the spread of COVID-19, there is concern within the game about how you can put a price tag on any player. What is value at a time when so many businesses, clubs and individuals are  enduring such a struggle to make ends meet?

But with Kane, sources say it's difficult to see Spurs changing their stance. At the very lowest, they think Spurs would expect £150 million for him.

Levy has just announced 550 non-playing staff will take a 20 per cent pay cut, and there are obvious concerns about budgeting and squad salaries at a time when there is no matchday revenue and a chance TV money might have to be repaid.

He has always been careful with cash at Tottenham, but that is why some sources feel that could lead to Kane leaving. How will he match Kane's ambition?

From their own conversations with Kane, Spurs know that UEFA Champions League qualification is crucial to keeping him content. They also know that strengthening the squad to prove they can compete at the top level is vital. 

Yet, there is concern right now about whether they will be able to satisfy him on either front.

There is only an outside chance of playing in the Champions League next season, and it seems unlikely Levy is going to heavily strengthen the squad on the back of the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of a statement released by the club, Levy said: 'When I read or hear stories about player transfers this summer like nothing has happened, people need to wake up to the enormity of what is happening around us. ... We may be the eighth largest club in the world by revenue, according to the Deloitte survey, but all that historical data is totally irrelevant as this virus has no boundaries.'

There is more uncertainty than ever before.

The Spurs hierarchy know Kane craves trophies—that is one of the reasons Jose Mourinho, a serial winner, was brought to the club.

But when the player was quizzed by Jamie Redknapp over Instagram and delivered a public warning with authority, precision and confidence, it surprised many—even some that know him well.

"I love Spurs," he said. "I'll always love Spurs, but I've always said if I don't feel we're progressing as a team or going in the right direction, I'm not someone to stay there for the sake of it.

"I'm an ambitious player. I want to improve, get better and become one of the top, top players. It all depends on what happens as a team and how we progress as a team. So it's not a definite I'm going to stay there forever, but it's not a no either."

Kane, 26, is giving Spurs an ultimatum: Start winning or I'm off. 

Only a handful of clubs could even consider signing Kane, though, and of those it is Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City that hold genuine interest.

Kane's latest words have given all of them something to think about, but Madrid remains the most likely landing spot if he does leave.

Sources in Spain are adamant that he is still on their radar as a potential replacement for 32-year-old Benzema. But when an approach might happen becomes the next question.

Right now, Paris Saint-Germain's Mbappe remains the club's absolute priority, so they will look to see how that situation opens up. Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland is also emerging as a man who fits their mould.

But if neither of those transfers look possible, there is reason for optimism in the case of Kane. Spurs sources indicated to Bleacher Report that Levy would be more willing to let him move to a foreign club than anyone in the Premier League.

So would he go for it?

"Harry has never conveyed any true desire to play abroad, but a move to the Bernabeu has an obvious lure," one insider explained. "I think most people around Spurs accept he won't stay at the club for his entire career, but it would be painful to see him join a direct rival. If he leaves, I think he'll go abroad."

When football returns, those close to Kane are adamant that he will continue to give everything for Tottenham. He is desperate for them to be successful, and he loves being their leader.

But we are approaching the stage where he has a big decision to make over his future—and it is starting to look like he fancies a fresh challenge.

Listen to Dean on the B/R Football Ranks podcast. New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe here.

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Lucas Vazquez has a La Liga championship and three Champions League titles on his resume.

The Real Madrid and Spanish national team winger also has opinions on a number of topics, including who is the greatest of all time.

He sat down for a Bleacher Report AMA on Monday and answered questions about his career, what it is like to play with Cristiano Ronaldo and much more.

              

@362289: Do you think you would have beaten Liverpool (CL Final) in 2018 had Karius not been in goal and Salah not got injured?

We will never know, but before the game started I thought we were going to win 

             

@ModricHazard: Thanks for doing this, @lucasvazquez91 ! What has been your favorite moment with Real Madrid so far?

My favorite moment I think it was when we won any of the three Champions Leagues, those are incredible moments, very hard to describe. If I have to choose, maybe I'd choose the first one, as the first one is always different.

             

@Ochoa2thabone: When the final 90mins hit and you won the Champions League for the first time, when did it really sink in that you had just won a Champions League final?

It's absolute joy to be able to celebrate a title with RM, the team of my life, and the most important title at the team level, it was amazing.

In the first moment, when we are hugging, celebrating, we break the pressure we've been carrying during the whole season and we celebrated together, it was something impressive. 

              

@Citizen_Blue: Lucas, tell us about THE penalty (in the 2016 final vs. Atletico). Especially that glorious walk-up when you were cool as a cucumber, looking like a Harlem Globetrotter!

In that moment when I was walking with the ball in my hand, I was thinking about scoring, scoring the first penalty and to help the team to get the title. I was lucky and the ball got in.

               

@Cruiz3: Why did you ask Zidane for the first penalty in that final?

I asked because I had a lot of confidence, I had been feeling good during the game, and in that moment, in my mind the only thought was to score the penalty. I was convinced I was going to score.

             

@oroz20: Who would be in your all time 5-a-side?

sergio ramos, lucas, karim, cristiano, courtois

             

@MADRIDISTA10: Man WOW I'm a big fan! What current or former soccer player do you idolise the most?

I'd say Luis Figo, I grew up watching him play in Real Madrid, he plays in my position and I've always watched and still do watch videos of him to improve my game through his.

            

@RONAD7DO: In the first leg against Juventus in the 2018 Champions League, you were one of the closest players on the pitch to witness Cristiano's masterpiece of a goal (the overhead kick). How did you feel and what were you thinking at that moment?

I saw a center from Carvajal, and the ball was coming to the zone I was in, and suddenly some legs appeared… I saw it was Cristiano and he scored such a great goal. And I thought it's best that those legs appeared! 

             

@JACKLOWRY: I'm sure you get this all the time but what was it like to play and train with Ronaldo? 

He is an incredible professional and he demanded the most out of himself and his teammates, so he made everybody did their best

              

@Joshuamorrobel: How did you feel when Cristiano left?

You have to understand his decisions, everybody has to follow their own path 

               

@realmememan: What's your favorite sport outside of football?

I love basketball (NBA, ACB in Spain) and I love tennis too.

I like Lebron James' teams.

             

@LucasVasquezFan: Lucas, big fan here… what inspirations have you had outside of people that have played soccer? (non football // non sport // artist // musician?)

I see other athletes as inspiration, like Rafa Nadal, Pau Gasol, Fernando Alonso. I think they are great inspiration for youngsters and for everybody.

                 

@Biggie2210: Would you ever consider playing in MLS?

It would be incredible, I'd love to play in the MLS some day.

                

@M07070707: How does it feel to play against Barcelona? Is it like any other match?

Those are special games, everybody is expectant. Those games are lived with a lot of emotion and there is a lot of joy when you win those games.

             

@JohnDavid06: Would you rather get a winning goal vs. Barca or a winning goal in the Champions League?

For sure the winning goal in the Champions League!

             

@HalaMadrid11: What was it like growing up in la fabrica? How great was it growing up to become a first team player for the biggest and best club in the world?

It was beautiful, there were difficult moments as well but it was a great experience to grow within Real Madrid, and above all to fulfill the dream of any academy player, to play in the first team.

           

@Tristanobrien: Who dresses the best out of all the players at Madrid?

Me, of course!

              

@Jdrummond7: Who's the most challenging player you've had to face in training or on the pitch?

Sergio Ramos. Because of his competitive character, and because he is the best of the world in his position.

            

@ryanmutigers: Better hair: Gareth Bale or Zidane?

Pass. Hahahaha!

             

@AFinkelstein6: Messi or Ronaldo?

Both are incredible players that are making history. Many many years will have to pass to see two players like them.

             

@BenBlackmore: What's the best ground (other than the Bernabeu) you've played at, and is there one you'd like to play at? 

I like the Bayern Munich's and Juventus' stadiums. I'd love to play in Old Trafford.

              

@Tsdinsd: Is Ramos ever as cutthroat (intense) in training as he is at times during matches?

Yes, he is very intense in the day to day. He is an example for all the players and he is the captain he always shows. 

                

@ATMike: Who's been the most pivotal coach to your development as a player that we haven't heard about? How did they challenge you to grow?

In Real Madrid C I had a coach,  Manolo Diaz, he trusted me from the start. He taught me that if I did good I could play wherever I wanted. And I am very thankful to him. 

              

@Tylerhines: How is Zidane in the dressing room compared to the Zidane we always see?

The Zidane we know is very close to the player, always smiling, always helping us to grow as players.

            

@dubs4life17: How does it feel to be part of an organisation like Real Madrid?

I am very proud to be a part of Real Madrid, the greatest team in the world. And it's a joy to be able to enjoy it every day.

              

@hlopez2005: How does it feel to have won three consecutive Champions Leagues?

Incredible! It's a great satisfaction, something nobody has done before us, and I think it's difficult to happen again. 

           

@Rhettro: How do you handle the pressures of playing for a club as great as Real Madrid?

I try not to be affected by praise or criticism. I try to work always to the maximum, do my best. And I have the ambition to become better day by day. 

            

@MightBeGodly: What was your favourite memory playing alongside Ronaldo?

I have many good memories, for example when I gave him an assist against PSG. That was a beautiful moment. 

             

@Cr7halamadrid37: Who is the greatest of all time?

I think it is between Messi and Cristiano.

             

@Amacuna: Do you wish to retire at Real Madrid?

I hope so, I hope I can retire at Real Madrid.

             

@Messigician10: Hey Lucas, how did you feel when you first walked onto the Bernabeu pitch?

I was a little nervous, but also felt a high of so many great emotions, it's very difficult to explain that feeling.

             

@CR7SUUUUUUU: What is your best asset as a player?

My work, my mentality and my verticality.

            

@Grucci: Why do you wear No. 17?

I always loved that number. I like 7 very much, and 17.

           

@ManchesterUTD: What has been the best goal you have scored in your career?

I have many haha

My header against Rayo Vallecano was special, another good one was against Villareal, and all the Champions League goals are special.  

           

@AndrewMayer777: Who on the team is like your 'little brother'?

Asensio

Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz died Saturday at the age of 76 after contracting the coronavirus, according to the Associated Press (via USA Today).

He was being treated for the virus throughout the week and was in intensive care.

"Today, all of Madrid is in mourning following the passing of the president who dedicated a huge part of his life to his great passion: Real Madrid," the club said in a statement. "Given the current circumstances, Real Madrid will give him the recognition he deserves as soon as possible."

Sanz's son also confirmed the news on Twitter Saturday.

"My father has just died," he said, via a translation by Alex Kirkland of ESPN. "He didn't deserve this ending and in this way. One of the best, bravest, hardest-working people I've ever known leaves us. His family and Real Madrid were his passion. My mother and my siblings enjoyed all of his moments with pride. RIP."

Sanz served as president of Real Madrid from 1995 to 2000, helping the club win two European titles.

He is one of the latest victims of a pandemic that has killed over 11,000 people worldwide through Saturday, according to the World Health Organization. Spain has had 19,980 confirmed cases, third-most in the world behind only China and Italy.