Following the dismissal of Rafael Benitez as Real Madrid coach, the club have named Zinedine Zidane as their caretaker manager until the end of the season and may also appoint former Real Madrid player Santiago Solari as his assistant.
Until Monday, the 43-year-old Zidane, who needed just six seasons as a player to become one of Real Madrid's biggest legends, was the coach of the Real Madrid Castilla, a job for which Florentino Perez selected him in June of 2014 and his first official coaching job. This youth team play in an equivalent to the Third Division in Spain, and consists of players with an average of 20 years of age. After 19 matches, Zidane had the team in second place, four points behind Basque side Barakaldo.
Previously to working with Castilla, the Frenchman had acted as a special advisor to Jose Mourinho and the first team squad in the 2011-12 season and worked as Carlo Ancelotti's assistant in the 2013-14 season, both positions as a result of his long-term contract with Real Madrid.
It is fair to say that Zidane's experience as a manager is extremely limited. In fact, the club had preferred to give the Frenchman more time with Castillainstead of running the risk of burning him too early in the first team job but according to president Perez, the situation with Benitez was untenable and Zidane was the best available option until the end of the season.
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