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Real Madrid welcomes manager Zinedine Zidane.
3-11-2019
Zinedine Zidane, 46, has signed a three-year contract that will keep the star with Real Madrid until June 30, 2022.
On Monday, the club confirmed they have sacked Santiago Solari and replaced him with Zinedine Zidane. "Real Madrid thanks Santiago Solari for his work done and the commitment and loyalty he has shown to what is his home," the club said.
He will take over at the club immediately. "The best manager in the world has rejoined the club," Real president Florentino Perez said. "Our destinies are once again united."
Just 10 months after leaving the Spanish giants, Zidane said he is "very happy to be home." He left in May after leading the club to a third straight Champions League trophy.
Real are currently third in La Liga, 12 points behind leaders Barcelona.
"I love this club, and when the president called me, I couldn’t say no," Zidane said. "I’ll give everything I have to make this club better."
Zidane said: "I want to put this club back where it belongs. "It has been difficult from the outside looking in.
"I have been living here in Madrid, doing my things. But I have recharged my batteries. I'm ready to coach this great club again."
Zidane was already a Real legend thanks to an illustrious five-year-period as a player at the club between 2001 and 2006.
He took over as Real Madrid coach in January 2016 and made a near immediate impact, winning the Champions League later that season.
Zidane lost just 16 times in his 149 games in charge. No team had won three Champions League or European Cups in succession since Bayern Munich between 1973 and 1975.
Upon announcing his departure, Zidane said the team needed "a change after three years, another voice, another method of working."
Zidane's return is the latest episode in a dramatic season for the club. Back in the summer, Julen Lopetegui was named Zidane's successor, only to then lose his job as Spain coach on the eve of the World Cup. He lasted just four months, the final match of his 14-game spell a 5-1 defeat to Barcelona.
Zidane faces a rebuilding job at Real Madrid after their Champions League dynasty came to a remarkable, humiliating end last week.
Zidane will be given all the sporting authority and all the things he suggested in the summer that Florentino Perez did not want to do - most of them will be done now.
Zidane is coming in with the idea of not just managing the side but also managing the decisions for the first team.
"We’ll get back to work and try to do the right things," Zidane said. "We have 11 matches left in the league, then we will start thinking about next year and beyond."
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