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#5. The Apprentice outsmarts the Master
Zinedine Zidane knew the key lay in how his side handled Arjen Robben. And boy, did they handle him. The Dutchman was allowed to cut in by Marcelo (well aware that giving away a foul in those areas is exceptionally dangerous) but as soon as Robben did, at least two of Ramos, Casemiro or Toni Kroos ensured that they were around him. This forced Robben backwards and allowed Madrid to finally stop Robben doing what he always does so well.
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To make sure he’d covered everything, Zidane made sure Ronaldo was tracking Lahm so that Robben’s rare ol’ out ball too was cut out. With the Robben route cut off, Bayern looked a quarter as dangerous as they usually do.
While it may be right that Madrid gave Bayern’s midfield way too much space in the first half, it has to be understood why this was being done. Not able to trust his centre-backs (who, until today, had been in exceptionally poor form), Zidane pulled his midfield back so deep that in effect he had with him three defensive midfielders to shield Ramos and Nacho. This, of course, was a mistake against the likes of central midfielders of the ilk of Thiago, Alonso and Vidal.
Also, Read – Zinedine Zidane is the hero Real Madrid need... and the one they deserve
In the second half, this changed – Zidane realised his mistake (and also gained enough trust in his CBs) to push Modric and Kroos forward and that made the world of a difference. Even before the sending off, Real Madrid were clambering all over their hosts (as that 47th minute Ronaldo goal showed) and Madrid’s superiority was visibly infuriating the Munich side – as Martinez so tellingly showed.
Zizou’s substitutions too were on point – Asensio was magnificent, Rodriguez played a key pass or two and Kovacic for Modric was just a sensible thing to do while Ancelotti’s made no difference whatsoever.
- All in all, the apprentice did outsmart the master yesterday night and showed once again something that a lot of people keep forgetting – whether as a player, or a coach, when it comes to big games no one does it quite like Zinedine Zidane.
