I thought this is interesting topic .

Are you happy Madrid fans ?

Yes interesting topic. It's still early to say something tho. But I believe Zidane will be succesful.
Would love to hear Madrid fans' opinions about this.

As a Barca fan for La Liga, this is a dangerous pairing. Zidane is a legend and I think his knowledge and philosophy of the game will help Madrid for a good while.

Zidane hasn't really changed anything yet. The biggest change has been mentally. We have to wait and see how they do against tougher teams like Sevilla Atletico and Barcelona.

Then again, all managers should be given some time to put their footprints on the team. Sometimes, the mentality, the strategy, the tactics or even the players need to change in order to adapt to a new manager, which might take some time. Although I know that bringing in a new manager can have some positive short-time effects as the players got a new boss to impress, I never think a new manager should be judged this quickly. Just look at Klopp at Pool.. Great manager, but so far they have both given and taken with mixed success.

Our players are more interested to play for Zidane especially Ronaldo. Zidane will be more successful than Benitez.
Zidane is our legend and could be our hero too.

It is mostly the fact that not many people dare to speak bad about Zizou because he is a RARE legend.

He did things that many footballers can't even dream to achieve, on the other hand Benitez had to deal with Madrid fans beeing angry about the Carlo sacking and all the pressure fell on him. Respect and charisma is a must nowadays because you have to deal with the press and the fans. You need to make them believe with strong actions and words, despite Benitez tried hard it was not enough for Real Madrid.

I wish Zidane would just play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We still aren't tactically any better than we were under Benitez. I would've preferred that Benitez had the license to do as he pleased because he is a proven tactician. Zidane is an inexperienced manager at this moment.

Zidane tactic are more offensive and Benitez was more defensive, thats what I believe. Tell me if you think there some truth to that remark.

I fear for Zidane to pay at the end of the season for Pérez mistakes, I also think it was too soon to take Madrid but at least we cant say he started from the bottom. He should have done one or two regular seasons before joining Madrid. But imo i'd rather have Zidane than Benitez, at least players respect him.

Well, now that the Clasico is done, I believe that it does show some sign of superiority from Zidane, after all, Benitez couldn't win against Barca at home but Zidane not only manage to turn thing around but at Camp Nou at that. That will no doubt give a strong impression to the board and the rest of the fan.

I like to say that I had sort of funny feeling that Madrid might actually win but i again let my reasoning and stats to the choosing . Surprised at how well Madrid canceled out Messi , kept Suarez quiet and Neymar was ineffective . Very good strategy plan and Zidane has shown that he can be tactician . Very happy for Zidane . He is my all time favorite player and I think he deserves to be my all time favorite manager too )) So i hope he does become one .

Also about the game ! What a game Casemiro had against Messi ! All these criticism for Casemiro and he comes back with massive performance .

I think Real are no longer contenders to La Liga crown but this victory was a morale boost for Champions League ! Also Real proved what Arsenal almost did that Barcelona are not invincible and they are actually vulnerable team and beatable . IMO .

I dont think Arsenal proved anything, the final result was 5-1 from a not so conquerant Barca, and yes any team is beatable only if you have the back ground and the players to pull out a result. MSN were all at South America 2 days before playing for a Wc qualifier for their nation, Messi was the player who run less in the game and spent mainly most of the time in midlefied, didnt do any run like he did against Bolivia. He has to prove things to his nation while he has nothing to prove in Europe, Im worried about the fact he is resting himself for copa America but I still think he will give Barca some of his energy in crucial games.
None of the MSN tracked back at any moment of the game while Madrid Cr7 included defended, that loss was deserved the better side won but to think Barca is vulnerable, No mate sorry. Unbalanced ? Yes they were even agaisnt Gunners who found themselves at 3 vs 3 or 1 vs 1 often. But Barca players specially MSN Will do the defensive work when needed.
From WC of clubs till now they had one game each 3 days, and the most complicated ones are yet to come, effort management is really crucial in the money time and it has just started.
For Zidane, he did pretty well tactically but his players are mainly the ones to praise, when he saw Arda entry he knew there would be space and Jesé entry was very smart from him, but the win was a sign of MAdrid players pride.

Barcelona rode on the luck and mercy of the referees against Villareal otherwise defeat should have come sooner .

I think what Marcus said is correct. Barcelona are defensively vulnerable. The scoreline should have been 3-1 if not for disallowing Bale's goal. Not to mention Madrid had a ton of good opportunities in the final 20 minutes of the game. Barcelona is lop-sided offensively. They have no true defensive cover as their wing-backs are always up, Pique is mediocre, Masche is played out of position and is at a height disadvantage, and Busquets is the only man playing true to his position. The midfield, other than Busquets, don't put in any effort in defense either. Iniesta and Rakitic may track back, but they never dedicate to 50-50 balls or tackle like Modric and Kroos do - who do it quite frequently as well.

In addition to that, I believe the jet lag excuse is pretty bullsh.t. The excuse only came around after the game. These guys are professionals. They've been travelling to other nations and continents to play games for more than a decade. They would have to be amateurs to be affected by jet lag. If jet lag was truly a concern, we would've heard about it from before the game (as we tend to do with tight schedules... which, matter of fact, actually do drain the energy of players. Have never heard of this jet lag excuse before this Clasico).

Even if they were slowed down by jet lag, none of MSN put in any effort to attempt to change the game. Messi only touched the ball when he went to the half-way line because he was heavily marked. Neymar just stayed on the wing the entire game and was marked out by Carvajal. Suarez hardly made runs for passes to get to him and thus didn't receive the ball either. So as you can see, even if jet lag was to make them a bit tired, neither of MSN put in any effort to change that. That being said, however, I still believe that "jet lag" is a bullsh.t excuse for professionals at this stage in their career. They've already been used to it for many years.

Im worried about the fact he is resting himself for copa America but I still think he will give Barca some of his energy in crucial games.

Barca fans said the same thing for the World Cup in 2014. I don't understand this argument at all. Why would Messi not put in effort to Barca games? Is Barcelona second to him after Argentina? Does he not realize that he has team mates that depend on him to perform? Does he not realize that there are millions of fans around the world who want him to do well and want the team to succeed? Why do you need to "rest" yourself by not putting in any effort whatsoever during matches when you can just request the manager to sit you off for a couple games? If he was to put in effort during the "crucial" games... why not today? If Barca won that day they would have maintained a 9 point lead ahead of Atletico and completely knocked Madrid out of the title race. But Messi didn't put in any effort in this "crucial" game. Seems to me to be an attitude issue with his arrogance.

I'm trying to roll with thing here but I would like to point out that its true that the fact that player all just came back from the international game might have changed the dynamic a bit. However, the point about how Barca defense is a bit weak seem right as well. Its not even a question about the two center fullback though, Alves and Alba are simply too offensive and doesn't track back as quick as they should which results in space on the side. That was my main problem with Barca in the last game.

Alves and Alba get a lot of crap for being too attacking, but they get back pretty well, and were in position for all the Madrid goals, although their defending itself was sometimes questionable (cough, Bale goal).

Far more of a concern for Barca defensively has to be how easy it is for a team to just carry the ball through their midfield. No one puts in any tackles whatsoever on about half the meandering runs that Carvajal, Modric, Kroos, and particularly Marcelo made in the clasico. If the ball gets to any of the forward players, the defenders take care of it, but the utter lack of defensive midfield presence from Barca is astonishing, especially when Busquets is pulled out of position. Even Ronaldo tracked back more than Neymar and Messi did. Frikin attack-minded don't want to get my hands dirty Ronaldo.

I'm going to go with a non-mainstream opinion here and say Barca's defence is actually ok. The cover for it is diabolical.

The scoreline should have been huge in favor of Barca if the Pk and the second yellow was given by ref at 25th, thats not How it works in Football mistakes are part of the game but if we all keep selectively whining it would never
End.
Any defense in the world would sink if they keep getting attacked while not backed by the forward specially a 4-3-3 formation, Im not worried about this and one defeat doesnt sink a winning team unless a humiliation.
Suarez not in a good game, half exhausted Messi, uninspired Neymar, one deflection cross to Benz, tactical mistakes in substitution by Enrique, wont happen each game the reason why they dont loose.
Teams that blame defeats on ref are weak teams, good teams arent affected by wrong calls because they still win the game and thats what MAdrid did.

@dynast yes, Messi would trade all his Cl for a world cup

When BBC didnt track back they conceded 4 only thanks to Keylor could have been worse, thats total Football.