As Barcelona search for an identity, Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid focus on winning

On a night which saw Real Madrid claim a record 34th Spanish top-flight title, it was impossible not to contrast the scenes at the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano to those at the Camp Nou. Barcelona’s defeat to Osasuna felt like more like the end of a generation, not just the end of a title challenge.

The Camp Nou club have struggled badly with the question of identity this season. It was on this basis that Ernesto Valverde was sacked in in January with Barca top of La Liga and Quique Setien, a football thinker who has never won a major honour in his career, appointed in his place. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have solely focused on winning matches.

Nobody knows how to win better than Zinedine Zidane. In an age when football managers are expected to be philosophers, the Frenchman is something of an anomaly, but this season has underlined that winning is his philosophy. Everything he does as a coach is geared towards making sure his team gets over the line first.

This can often cast Real Madrid’s achievements in an underwhelming light. The last six years have been arguably the most successful in the capital club’s long and storied history, yet Zidane’s side will be spoken about in the same way as Pep Guardiola’s great Barcelona team. Their success this season demonstrated this, with many quick to put Real Madrid’s title triumph down to Barca’s failings or sheer good fortune.

Such minimisation does Zidane and his team a great disservice, though. What he has built at the Santiago Bernabeu (or the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano as it has been for the last few weeks) can’t be plotted on a tactics board but can certainly be found in the winning mentality and drive of his players.

Real Madrid have won 10 from 10 since lockdown. They have lost just three times all season in La Liga, the same number of times Liverpool have lost in the Premier League. This can’t be attributed to Barcelona’s poor form or any number of fortuitous refereeing decisions. Zidane and his players earned this.

Zidane’s success proves that in an era where coaches are expected to coach, there is still room for some management. The former midfielder is no great tactician, but he is a legacy figure who has surrounded himself at the Santiago Bernabeu with people he trusts and knows what it takes to succeed at the elite level. Zidane is a three-time Champions League and double La Liga winner and yet still he is consistently belittled as a manager.

There remains a sense that this is a Real Madrid in the midst of a transition. Eden Hazard found some form towards the end of his first season in Spain, but the Belgian has still to truly integrate himself. The three-month coronavirus hiatus revitalised Luka Modric, but the Croatian is almost certain to leave the Santiago Bernabeu at the end of his contract next summer. Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior are still as inconsistent and frustrating as they are brilliant, while Gareth Bale is still more golfer than footballer.

But that Zidane was still able to guide Real Madrid through this transition to title glory only underlines further his ability as a pragmatist. That might not see him lionised like Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp or even Jose Mourinho, but few are as effective in the dugout and dressing room as the Frenchman. Zidane has achieved a lot in just four years as a manager, but this was the title win that proved the profound difference he can make to a team. This was his triumph.