Zinedine Zidane added another trophy to his impressive collection when his Real Madrid side won the Spanish Super Cup last night thanks to a 5-1 aggregate win over a Barcelona side that looked disjointed and distinctly average without Neymar.
Los Blancos ran out 3-1 winners away from home on Sunday and even with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Casemiro absent from the side in the second leg at the Bernabeu, Real, despite not really moving out of first gear, beat their rivals 2-0, with goals coming in the first half from the irresistible Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema.
And following the latest bit of silverware, an incredible Zidane-related stat began doing the rounds on social media.
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As pointed out by Phil Kitromilides, a presenter for Real Madrid TV, in his glittering 19-month stint at the Bernabeu, the stadium he lit up in the peak of his powers as a player, Zidane has now won an utterly absurd seven trophies. Even better, he has as many trophies as defeats during his time in the Real hot-seat, which is absolutely mental when you think of it.
Of course, Zidane has a wonderful squad of a players at his disposal, as well as some of the most talented individual players in the world, but the manner in which he has taken this side to a new level is quite remarkable.
People tend to forget that he when he made the step up from the Castilla side and replaced Rafa Benitez after the Spaniard was given the boot, Real were third in La Liga and had a largely unhappy group of players.
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But through man-management and shrewd tactics, he's delivered two Champions Leagues, one La Liga, two UEFA Super Cups, one Club World Cup and one Spanish Super Cup.
Image: PA
And the notion that his terrifying 'BBC' trident have merely won games and trophies for him, with Zidane sitting in his arse doing nothing, couldn't be further from the truth.
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In fact, another statistic shows that in his 90 games at the helm, Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema have only started as a trio in 26 of those games. 64 games without that combination and yet Real have still ruled the roost. Granted, Bale has been plagued by injuries in recent times, and Isco and Marco Asensio have been sublime when called upon, but it's still a brilliant statistic.
You have to go back to April 2016, when Real drew 0-0 against Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City at the Etihad in the Champions League semi-final first leg, to find the last team to stop Madrid from finding the net.
The Real team we are seeing at the moment is well up there, arguably even superior, to their famed Galacticos and the sides before. Zinedine Zidane has worked wonders as a manager and there's next to no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid
