The world of football management is a cruel place to be with the short term nature of it all. There's very few places as cut throat as Real Madrid and now even Zinedine Zidane could find that out.
Football management looks like it might be quite difficult, and that's coming from a man who once won the Premier League with Millwall and took Bury into the Champions League.
However when Zinedine Zidane came into the job at Real Madrid, taking over first team duties from Rafa Benitez in January 2016, he made it look as easy as he made playing in midfield.
Lionel Messi's last minute winner could have put Zidane's job in doubt. Image: PA Images
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Within a year the 1998 World Cup winner had won the Champions League and broken La Liga's unbeaten record, apparently management isn't too hard.
However one loss might have derailed Zizo as, according to Spanish newspaper AS, Los Blancos have lined up a replacement should the team fail to win any trophies this season.
The paper reckon that Germany manager Joachim Low leads the race to replace Zidane should the team end up throwing away the title and fail to retain the Champions League.
Low, left, won the World Cup with Germany in 2016. Image: PA Images
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This has all seemed to come about following Real's loss at the weekend. The loss to Barcelona, via Lionel Messi's 500th goal for the club, tightened up the title race.
Suddenly Barca are level on points with their fierce rivals and with Luis Enrique's side having a better head-to-head record they are well in the title race.
Real do have a game in hand but they now can't afford any slip ups if they are to win back the title.
Del Bosque being lifted up after winning the Champions League was sacked not long after. Image: PA Images
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In the Champions League they face a semi-final against their local rivals Atletico to win a place in the final in Cardiff at the beginning of June.
Los Blancos have beaten Diego Simeone's team in two finals in the last three seasons but no side has ever won the Champions League back-to-back.
Jupp Heynckes, Vicente del Bosque and Carlo Ancelotti were all sacked within a year of winning the Champions League and Zidane could be the next man on the list.
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