And so Florentino Perez, the president of Real Madrid, has rolled the dice again. For the third time this season—after the Julen Lopetegui debacle and the short-lived reign of Santiago Solari, a man who has overseen possibly the worst week in the club's history—Perez has appointed a new manager. This one nobody saw coming. Maybe in the summer, but not now. Less than 10 months after he sensationally resigned, Zinedine Zidane is back as Real Madrid's head coach.
"This has been a surprise because nobody was expecting that Zidane will take the team now," says Manuel Bruna, a journalist who covers the daily Real Madrid beat for Mundo Deportivo.