David Beckham took to Instagram to congratulate his former team-mate Zinedine Zidane after the French legend was appointed as Real Madrid manager replacing Rafa Benitez on Monday.
The news of former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez’s sacking after just seven months came with not such a major surprise, despite Real Madrid sitting just four points behind the top spot in La Liga.
And England legend David Beckham reckons his former teammate and good friend Zidane is just the right person to take over the managerial responsibility at Real Madrid.
On Instagram, he wrote: “Does it get any better than this?
“A man that has been the best at a game we all love, taking over of a club that myself and many more people love…
“Someone with drive, passion and also doesn’t accept failure on any level.
“Taking over from a manager that has huge experience and respect in the game, but taking on a position that he will relish.
“The best person for the job.”
The sentiments also echo the words of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, who announced the surprising news in a press meet on Monday.
He said: “The board took a difficult decision especially for me to resolve the contract of Rafa Benitez as coach of the first team.
“The board decided to appoint as the new manager of the first team Zinedine Zidane. He is one of the greatest figures in the history of football.
“He’s fully conscious of how tough this complicated job is. He knows a lot of the players as they won La Decima with him as No2 coach two years ago.”
Rafa Benitez leaves the Spanish giants positioned third in the league, four points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid, after Sunday night’s surprising 2-2 draw with Valencia.
Actually for the past 3-4 weeks the writing was on the wall, with the Italian manager booed consistently by a portion of the Bernabeu crowds ahead of the win against Real Sociedad last week.
Things became dramatically worse after Madrid were simply mauled by Barcelona in the Clasico back in November.
Since that four-goal defeat at the hands of arch rivals Barcelona, Real Madrid have been comprehensively beaten by Villarreal and unexpectedly thrown out of the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player which raised so many questions about Benitez’s tactics.
Even before the controversial exit, there were increasing discontent with the way Real were performing, with lot of complaints forthcoming after the Italian stopped all attacking moves and shifted his focus to defend a lead in the Madrid derby, only for Atletico Madrid to score a sensational late equaliser.
Despite these costly mistakes, the Los Blancos are still title contenders and managed to progress top of a Champions League group that included Paris Saint-Germain.
However, this was not enough, and Sunday’s shocking draw at Mestalla, where Benitez guided Valencia to win league titles twice over a decade ago, proved the last straw.