Zidane takes on 1st major challenge as Madrid coach

But perhaps his defining moment for the club came during the 2002 Champions League final, when he scored a stunning volley to give his side a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen at Hampden Park.

Real Madrid also announced on Monday that club legend Zinedine Zidane would be taking over the reins from Benitez.

That result left Madrid four points behind rivals Atletico Madrid at the top of the La Liga table and the club’s board have decided to make a change.

The three-time world player of the year takes over at the globe’s richest club despite a limited coaching CV which includes his stewardship of Real’s feeder team, Castilla.

“We have the best club in the world and the best fans in the world”, the Frenchman added.

Furthermore, Zidane will command instant and complete respect from those players, who are well aware of their status as global superstars and therefore far from the easiest bunch of people to manage.

Zidane thanked Perez for giving the opportunity to train the “best club in the world with the best fan-base in the world”.

“I will work hard with all the players and I think it will go well”.

Zidane is the 11th coach to be appointed under Perez in just over 12 years in two spells in charge of the club.

He has been coach of the club’s B team, who are second in the Spanish third tier, since 2014 and was a key member of the backroom staff under Carlo Ancelotti, who led Real to a 10th European Cup title.

“The best person for the job”, trumpeted David Beckham, a former team-mate of Zidane at Real, on Instagram. “I don’t know if he [Zidane] will be successful but if he is not, Mourinho will be on the bench in June”.

Madrid president Florentino Perez had publicly backed Benitez despite the growing pressure in recent weeks which saw him routinely jeered by his own fans, but is believed to have finally bowed to the will of the players and supporters.

Benitez told journalists that Rodriguez was not “ready to play more than 30 minutes”, while Cheryshev said there was “very little communication” with the coach. Even more than when I signed as a player.

Zidane faces a reasonably favourable early run of games in charge, but his credentials will be sorely tested soon enough, with Madrid facing Atletico, Celta Vigo, Roma, Sevilla and Barcelona between February 28 and April 3.

Despite being thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player last month, there is still plenty of time for Madrid to turn their season around.