Zidane risks reputation to usher in new era at Real

Zinedine Zidane stood for 29 minutes fielding questions but all of them really came down to two: Why now? And, what next? In a packed auditorium in the belly of the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday night, Raul and Roberto Carlos took their seats in the front row while journalists squeezed up against the walls, an hour and a half after the official announcement.

Santiago Solari had been sacked as coach of Real Madrid and in his place Zidane would return, 284 days after he had left.

On May 31 last year, sitting next to the club's president Florentino Perez, Zidane had said the team would not keep winning with him in charge.

They failed to win without him, first under Julen Lopetegui, the sacked Spain coach, and then Solari, the interim-turned-permanent coach, who watched on as Madrid's season went up in smoke in six days.

Solari's exit was inevitable but the idea any suitable replacement would take over for 11 La Liga games, with nothing to preside over except the aftermath of a crisis, seemed fanciful.

"When the president called me the first thing I thought was: go," said Zidane. Which begs the question: what has changed? Rest may have refreshed motivation, particularly for Zidane, who said himself, "I have never been far away".

He has stayed in Madrid and attended a handful of matches, while three of his sons still play for the club at various levels.

For him, the move back might have been less of a leap than it seems from the outside.

Yet the greatest lure may be that the team has been failing. For the best coaches, and players, there is always self-belief, a sense that no problem is too big to solve.

Zidane knew he would return with more authority than ever, far more even than after he had hoisted a third consecutive Champions League trophy.

The suspicion then was that he was just a face, a popular manager to keep the ship steady while star players engineered their own success.

As two coaches came and went, Zidane's stock rose with every chance missed, every seat left empty and every point that Barcelona moved further away.

"I returned because the president called me. I love him and I love this club," he said.

"We will change things, for sure, for the years to come."
- 'New golden era'-
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