Zinedine Zidane has brought Real Madrid to nine finals and have won all nine finals as Los Blancos collected a new piece of silverware on Sunday.

 Zidane has helped Real Madrid to win three Champions League trophies (consecutively might I add), two UEFA Super Cups, two Supercopa (Spanish Super Cup) and two Club World Cups. Zinedine Zidane has actually won 10 trophies in his short stint as a manager as he led his team to a long-awaited La Liga trophy in the 2016/2017 season. However, since the league isn’t a final, you’ll hear sports fans saying nine out of nine, but just bear in mind it’s 10 overall.  Zidane has won a trophy for Real Madrid on average, every 19 games. It was no shock to the fan base that Real Madrid struggled without him when he quit in 2018, after carrying them to their third consecutive Champions League final.  Zidane came out victorious from managing his ninth finals when Real Madrid emerged the champion of the Spanish Super Cup. Los Blancos beat their city rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1 after penalties on Sunday. The match was played in a new location, King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both looked strong coming into the finals. Real Madrid beat Valencia 3-1 in their fixture and Atletico Madrid beat the La Liga title holders Barcelona 3-2.  The match was scoreless after 120 minutes but it was hotly contested. Jan Oblak, Atletico’s goalkeeper was kept busy making crucial saves while Thibaut Courtois came in clutch for Real Madrid on numerous occasions. The most decisive moment of the match, in my opinion, was when Federico Valverde took out ex-Real Madrid player Alvaro Morata before he was able to get a shot at goal. Morata was just about to do a one-on-one with Courtois and score the winner when Valverde essentially took one for the team. Valverde was given a red card for the foul and Atletico Madrid didn’t get a goal from the free-kick they were awarded.  Atletico started out badly on penalties with Saul missing their first one and Thomas Partey missing their second. Real Madrid had put in all their penalties up to that point as Dani Carvajal, Rodrygo and Luka Modric made it 3-0. Kieran Trippier tucked his penalty away for Atletico Madrid, giving them some short-lived hope. When Sergio Ramos walked up to take his penalty, the Madridistas knew it was over because he is basically kryptonite for Atletico Madrid. He buried his penalty, as expected and  Atletico has once again lost to Real Madrid in a final. Diego Simeone will have to figure out how to beat Real Madrid in a final and I’m sure Zidane won’t be sharing his notes.  After the Spanish Super Cup final, Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid refer to Zinedine Zidane as  “a blessing from Heaven” and I think I speak for most of the fan base when I say, I agree.  

–Trevann Hamilton