Real Madrid sack Rafa Benitez, appoint Zinedine Zidane as coach Monday January 04,2016

 

Real Madrid have fired coach Rafa Benitez after only seven months and replaced him with former player Zinedine Zidane.Club president Florentino Perez announced the decision at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Monday January 04,2016, a day after Madrid's 2-2 draw at Valencia deepened a crisis that started with an embarrassing 4-0 home loss to rival Barcelona in November 2014

Real Madrid won seven of nine matches since that demoralising defeat but fans continued to demand the departure of Benitez

Real Madrid are third in the Spanish league, four points behind leader Atletico Madrid and two behind Barcelona, who have a game in hand.

Rafa Benitez's Real Madrid record
Season	Managed	Won	Drew	Lost	Win %
2015-16	25	17	5	3	68

France soccer great Zidane, who was Carlo Ancelotti's assistant in 2014 when Real Madrid won the Champions League, has been coaching Madrid's "B'' team in the third division.

For Zinedine Zidane,it will be the first major coaching job for the former playmaker, whose career was marked by greatness on the field but also by his head-butting of an Italian defender in the 2006 World Cup final.