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Zinedine Zidane is the name which has become immortal in Real Madrid's incredible history. He won so much with them as a player and even more as a manager. During his time at the Santiago Bernabeu, there was a time when he had more trophies than defeat.
He achieved the historic feat of becoming the first manager to successfully defend his Champions League trophy since the new format came up in 1990. In 2018 final against Kiev he did the unprecedented again by winning the trophy for the third time in a row.
His loss as a manager is huge for the Los Blancos, and replacing him will a huge task for Florentino Perez, with the club also in a phase of transition as key players like Modric, Ronaldo and Ramos are all the age of 32 or more. Though many argue that he wasn't tactically good enough or he was more dependent on his players individual abilities, but the truth is he is a winner as manager and he has all that is to win. In just three years of his managerial career, he has won more Champion League trophies than so many legendary managers.
Here are five reasons why Antonio Conte should be the man they should consider to replace him-
#1 Serial Winner
Antonio Conte self-proclaimed himself to be a serial winner. Like it or not he the truth he is a serial winner and his record speaks for that. He is obsessed with winning and he works really hard for it.
It was under his management that Juventus were able to lay the foundation of their current domestic dominance. Before his arrival, they were in shambles and the Milan clubs were the dominant forces, but he changed that as he won three back to back Serie A with the cub.
When he was appointed at Chelsea there were a team which had just lost the best manager they had in their history. It was a new era for the Blues and despite early turbulence in his first season he smoothly guided Chelsea to the Premier League title. In his second season with the club, he again won the FA Cup as well.
Even with the Italian National Team who had a very weak squad, he managed to knock Spain out of the tournament and even Germany needed penalties.to beat his team.
Real Madrid need a manager who is a serial winner and Conte is undoubtedly a big time serial winner.
#2 Style of Play
Both Conte and Zidane were teammates during their time with Juventus and both of them are the students of legendary Italian manager Marcello Lippi.
Zidane played a 4-4-4 or a 4-4-2 formation, a common trait of his team was full backs playing high up the pitch, centre-backs covering for them and Casemiro sliding in between the centre backs. This means that seven players are allowed to roam freely and influence the game and the likes of Marcelo and Carvajal have to swing in balls inside the box.
If we compare this with Conte's 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 we can see many similarities. Like the full backs for Madrid who stay high up the pitch, there are wing backs for Chelsea who have to swing in crosses inside the box. Chelsea also have a three-man defence who similarly cover for their wing-backs.
Both Real Madrid and Chelsea need their strikers to be like a fox in the box to score goals and their full backs or wing backs to swing in balls for them to provide them with the service.
If Madrid appoints Conte he will have a squad who used to play his style of football and it will help in settling at the Santiago Bernabeu and make the player's play his style of football.
#3 Availability of Other managers
According to reports, Mauricio Pochettino is presently the number one target for the Los Blancos to replace Zidane. While other managers like Arsene Wenger and Sarri have been named as alternatives.
But Pochettino is not a serial winner like Conte, though what he has done with Tottenham is truly remarkable and it deserves all the praise. But it may seem harsh, but the truth is Conte knows how to win and Pochettino is getting to know it.
Also, it will be tough to prise him away from Tottenham as he recently signed a five-year contract extension with the London based club and his contract contains no release clause as well.
While for Conte he is likely to face axe as soon as Chelsea find his replacement, thus it would be easy to get him compared to other managers which are being targeted by Real Madrid.
#4 Answer to Leo Messi
Over the years whenever Barcelona fans have started to praise Messi for his goalscoring exploits Madrid fans have always counter it with Cristiano Ronaldo. But this time the solution might not Cristiano, but Conte.
Despite their dominance in Champions League, Real have not even been half as dominant in the La Liga. Since Cristiano Ronaldo's arrival, they have only managed to win the league twice.
Many believe that the reason for it that every year in La Liga they have to face Lionel Messi's Barca and unlike Champions League, the La Liga requires consistency something which Real have not shown in the La Liga.
Since they are in direct competition with Leo Messi they have been unable to break Barca's dominance in the La Liga. Also, Cristiano Ronaldo on whom they have been heavily dependent for goals on him has been inconsistent in the La Liga.
While for Conte he a proper league winner, under him Juventus stormed to Serie A from 2012-2014 and achieved the highest points in Serie A in 2013-14 with 102 points. Even at Chelsea he won the league title and broke many records.
Thus if Real Madrid want to be domestically superior in Leo Messi's league they cannot find a manager better than Conte who can help them achieve that.
#5 Tactically Superiority
There is one thing for which Antonio Conte does not get as much credit that he deserves is his tactical knowledge of his formations. The 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 formation was largely used in Itlay.
But was he who brought to England and showed that world why Italians are one the best managers in the world. Even his rival Pep Guardiola has been full of praise of his compatriot, saying that he showed the world a way to attack with five defenders.
His formation became so popular that the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and even the German National Team used the same formation for their teams.
His tactical performance against Spanish opponents in the Champions League was fantastic and he was only let down by his players, not by his tactics.
Against Atletico Madrid in both the legs Atletico only managed to score through individual errors otherwise they were mainly kept quiet by the Blues. Even in the attacking department, they managed to cut open the defensively stubborn Atletico team so many and it was due to poor finishing that let his team down.
In Round of 16 against FC Barcelona, the Catalan giants failed to really create a single chance for themselves and only managed to score when Andreas Christensen made an error. While for Chelsea they had good chances and Willian hit the post twice as well. In the away leg as well it was Thiabult Courtois's individual error that led to goals.
If he joins Madrid he will have players who are on individual basis superior to Chelsea and his tactical plans can be better implemented by Madrid players.
