Real Madrid made the decision many had been waiting for, and sacked coach Rafa Benitez after the 2-2 draw against Valencia at the Estadio Mestalla.
Poor performances were part of his downfall
The 55-year-old Spaniard, who coached Liverpool, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Valencia among others, had a continually tough relationship with the fans and players. Supporters demanded the dismissal of the coach and booed Benitez against Real Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabéu.
A large part of his downfall was definitely the poor performances by his team and the bad results that followed. Despite sitting third in the table and still having the chance to win La Liga, the matches against Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Malaga and Barcelona - where Real lost 4-0 at home - had shown that Benitez had no connection to his players, It was also evident that he couldn't find the right tactic to beat the opponent, while playing the beautiful, fast attacking football they had under Jose Mourinho.
Was Florentino Perez right to sack Benitez?
Florentino Perez had no other option other than to sack the coach. The pressure of the fans was proving too much and the results also left him with very little choice. The 2-2 draw against Valencia was the final straw, because - once again - the attack and defence were not good enough.
Real scored both goals after set-pieces, and found no way to break trough the wall of Valencia defenders. Also, the decision to only bring Lucas Vazquez into the match seemed rather wasteful, because the 24-year-old didn't bring the creativity and stability needed to Real's play.
The coach had Isco and James Rodriguez on the bench and had two other, maybe better, opportunities for bringing in style and substance to game. It often caught one's eye that Rafa Benitez didn't change the tactics if was not going well for the Los Blancos. Especially during the second half of matches, Real needed to score a goal but the players couldn't find a way to the net and ended up conceding.
And that's the other point of criticism; Rafa Benitez had a fragile defence, despite possessing Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane and Pepe. Benitez put Pepe in the starting XI against Valencia and that was a very bad decision, because the Portugese caused the penalty which brought Valencia back into the game just before the half-time whistle.
This wasn't the first time Real's fans had seen this during the season. It was a big problem for Rafa Benitez that he had no control in his team and felt, on every position, that the players were not strong enough and often made a weak impression.
Zidane confirmed as new coach
Club legend Zinedine Zidane was confirmed as new coach of Real Madrid and the successor of Rafa Benitez. The 43-year-old Frenchman and World Cup finalist 2006 left Real Madrid Castilla and has now the responsibility of bringing the success back to Madrid.