He was present during Wednesday’s clash between Real Madrid and Manchester City. – A game where Erling Braut Haaland (of course) brought the victory home to Manchester. Zinedine Zidane, who has won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid in the shortest possible time, has granted himself a long vacation while waiting for the national team manager’s job for France to become available.
(France will be Norway’s toughest opponent on the way to World Cup gold)
Manager Xabi Alonso, who has had the support of Jude Bellingham, but it doesn’t help if results continue to be lacking. There is little doubt that the position of Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso is picking up by a thread and this week things have not improved.
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Zinedine Zidane was at the Bernabéu on Wednesday night when Xabi Alonso’s uncertain future at Real Madrid was thrown into further doubt after a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City.
Alonso, who was only appointed Madrid manager in May, is under a lot of pressure after a weak run of results.
Prior to this week’s Champions League clash in the Spanish capital, Real had won just two of their last seven games across all competitions, with last week’s 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo being a particular low point.
Team Talk wrote that if Los Blancos did not achieve a positive result against Pep Guardiola’s team, Alonso would be “relieved of his duties” after only six months in charge.
The talk inevitably turned to the Spaniard’s immediate future after goals from Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland secured all three points for the departing Citizens. After the final whistle, Jürgen Klopp was priced as the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Alonso at odds of 2/1.
Zinedine Zidane, who led Real to three consecutive Champions League trophies during his first spell in charge at the Bernabéu, came in as the second biggest favourite at odds of 3/1.
As mentioned by Mundo Deportivo, Zidane’s name continues to be mentioned as a potential replacement for Alonso if the latter is dismissed from his role.
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But in a somewhat surprising revelation, it seems that Madrid will not pursue Zidane for a third term in charge. The 53-year-old is also not currently considering a return to the Bernabéu’s sidelines.
“The reason is that Zidane is the leading candidate to succeed Deschamps as France national team coach after next year’s World Cup,” the MD article read.
“There are even rumours of an agreement already reached between the two parties, which is why Zidane is only focused on France and not Real Madrid.”
Zidane recently confirmed his intention to return to the sidelines. “I would like to be the head coach of France’s national team one day,” he said at the Trento Sports Festival in October. “I will certainly return to the coaching job.”
