Zidane swaps sparkle for steel to win the Madrid derby that matters Sid Lowe
over 5 years in The guardian
Madrid were written off after Atlético’s 7-3 pre-season win but they are now a ‘block of granite’ after a culture shift in the squad
“Keep calm,” Zinedine Zidane said, but back in Madrid it was hot and it was late and it wasn’t easy to sleep. In Torrejón, out of the city to the north-east, the presses were rolling on and the lorries were rolling out, a special 4am edition meaning those that had slept awoke to the news from across the Atlantic. It was late July and Real Madrid had just shipped seven against Atlético in New York. “3-7!” shouted the cover of Marca in shock. “One great team and one team in ruins,” judged the front of AS. “We treated it like a friendly and they didn’t,” Sergio Ramos insisted but still he was “pissed off” and the verdicts were in. “Historic humiliation.” “A scandalous, painful battering of a pitiful Madrid.” “A rag doll thrown about by a hurricane.”
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