Zinedine Zidane has changed mood at Real Madrid since taking over a boss
Frenchman a tactical novice but has lifted gloom at Bernabeu after drab six months under former manager Rafa Benitez
ZINEDINE ZIDANE’S remarkable turn-around of Real Madrid’s season is down to one thing. Mood.
That was all boss Zidane changed in the dressing room after the drab six months of Rafa Benitez.
Make no mistake, insiders say the Frenchman is still a tactical novice.
But psychologically he has been the perfect tonic for Madrid’s star-studded dressing room.
And what is even more amazing is that Real went from despair to euphoria at the same time as their big rivals Barcelona swung the other way.The most incredible change in fortunes this season happened in little over a month.
Real were 13 points behind Barcelona following their loss to Atletico in late February.
But after eight La Liga wins on the spin since then, they were one point behind on Saturday night, a day before leaders Barca faced Valencia at the Nou Camp.
Valencia pulled off a shock 2-1 win to leave the gap at one point — but the momentum going into the Champions League semi-final with Manchester City is with Madrid.
Their 5-1 win at Getafe was easy as La Liga’s bottom club — winless in 13 — offered little resistance.
But it was significant because Colombian star James Rodriguez and Isco both netted.
They had not started for some time. Both are unsettled and their futures are up in the air after spending large spells on the Real Madrid bench.
But Isco said: “It was complicated and dangerous because we were going into it after our comeback in the Champions League and we could have relaxed.
“But we came out switched on from the first minute which was our obligation.
“We have five games left and we will be hard at it.
“The team has shown that we cannot give in.
“We were 13 points behind and now we are so close.
“We are putting on pressure and will compete until the end. We are Real Madrid — we never give up.”
Rodriguez added: “A championship is not won with just 11 men that is why we are all united.”
They will need to be against City starting a week tomorrow at the Etihad.
It is a salivating prospect of a full-strength City taking on a full-strength Madrid.
In many ways, for City, it was better to avoid both Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich for both on and off the pitch reasons.
The only problem is suddenly Real look the biz ahead of their visit to Manchester.
And Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League hat-trick against Wolfsburg last week could turn this year’s Ballon d’Or race in his favour.
Just like his Portugal treble in the World Cup play-off second leg against Sweden in November 2013.
Only a month ago Ronaldo, 31, winning the Golden Ball seemed unthinkable.
Barcelona were flying, Luis Suarez was La Liga’s top scorer and on his way to challenging the duopoly of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
But as Messi went missing in their biggest game this season — against Atletico in the Champions League — Ron emerged as Real’s saviour.
Resurgent Ronaldo is now five Liga goals ahead of Suarez and seems the Ballon d’Or favourite.