Former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has backed the decision to sack Rafael Benitez and replace him with Zinedine Zidane, who has led the club to the Champions League final.
Benitez was sacked in January following a poor run of results which included a 4-0 hammering in El Clasico against Barcelona and reportedly did not see eye-to-eye with many of the club’s top performers, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Sergio Ramos.
Los Blancos managed to turn their season around under Zidane, chasing Barca down in La Liga and qualifying for the Champions League final courtesy of knockout-stage wins against Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City. They will take on city rivals Atletico Madrid in Milan on Saturday for the continental crown.
"Every manager has his own ideas of football," Ancelotti told Goal.
"And this idea can be better with one player compared to another.
"Maybe there were players happier with Benitez than Zidane and there are players happy with Zidane and not Benitez. The style of Benitez was a system of play they were not so used to.
"The club understood with Benitez maybe the players were not so comfortable and they changed at the right time. They put in a man who was in the club for a long time and the players had a lot of respect him.
"He has knowledge because he was a fantastic player."
