DBasia.news – Real Madrid and Barcelona showed a less convincing performance at the start of the 2020-2021 season. This has made the coaches of the two clubs, Zinedine Zidane and Ronald Koeman, both threatened to be fired.
Whether by coincidence or not, Zidane and Koeman seemed to be involved in a tug-of-war to avoid being fired. There were times when the two figures had gotten very close to the threat, but they had escaped the pinhole.
The threat of dismissal for the first time came to Zidane in mid-October. At that time, Madrid had just lost two successive defeats.
The problem is that Madrid was defeated by Cadiz, who has the status of a promotion team and Shakhtar Donetsk, who has the status of a dark horse in the Champions League. Worse, the defeat of the Ukrainian representatives happened at home.
After these two defeats, Zidane’s position was on the line. Moreover, Madrid will travel to Barcelona’s headquarters in the next match.
Sensationally, Madrid was able to win 3-1 at the Camp Nou. Thanks to that result, Zidane’s position is temporarily safe.
Conversely, a minor result against Madrid has threatened Koeman’s position. This is because Barcelona swallowed two consecutive defeats in the LaLiga event.
But Koeman was able to save his position after the 2-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League. His position was saved.
In early December, Zidane’s position continued to be in danger. The cause was two successive defeats against Alaves and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The defeat of Shakhtar made Madrid fail to qualify for the top 16. This has led to a lot of speculation regarding his future.
A number of names such as Mauricio Pochettino and Raul Gonzalez were prepared by Madrid officials to replace him. Zidane could be fired at any time when bad results arrive.
Amazingly, Zidane continued to escape from the pinhole. A narrow 1-0 victory at Sevilla kept his position safe.
However, it is believed that the last match in the Champions League group stage against Borussia Monchengladbach will determine Zidane’s fate. Had he swallowed a bad result, he would almost certainly not have avoided being fired.
When Zidane managed to extend his life, Koeman dug his own grave. Barcelona lost for the fourth time in the LaLiga event after a 1-2 defeat by Cadiz.
The defeat made Barcelona have their worst start since the 1987-1988 season. A disgrace that should have made Koeman unforgiven.
The financial crisis that hit Barcelona is believed to be the main reason Koeman has not been fired. His luck could change if the Blaugrana had a new president in January next year.
It will be interesting to see who between Zidane and Koeman would be fired first. It was at this moment that the quality of both of them would be tested.