Roma vs Real Madrid: Statistics show Zinedine Zidane fits the profile of a Champions League winning manager

Why the 43-year old coach, who won trophy after trophy as a player and in his first season of management, ticks every box

Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane (Getty Images)

With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema at his disposal, Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane has every reason to feel confident about the Champions League knockout-phase.

Even better, Los Blancos have been drawn against Roma. Despite a recent upturn in form under the newly-appointed Luciano Spalletti, the Giallorossi have endured a difficult season in Serie A and should not provide too much resistance when up against their Spanish counterparts.

Zidane, however, has a few extra reasons to be cheerful.

The 43-year-old is competing in the Champions League as a manager for the first time and research carried out by bWin shows that, when it comes to winning coaches, Europe’s premier football competition is becoming a young man’s game.

When comparing coaches’ first-time Champions League wins pre-2000 and post-2000, the bookmaker discovered that the average age of the triumphant manager has fallen from 47 years old to 42 years old.

Winning coaches also tend to be more inexperienced now. Pre-2000, a coach won the Champions League for the first time after an average of 10 seasons in management. Now, that’s halved to five.

Managers winning the competition for the first time on this side of the millennium tend to have won more as a player too, having picked up an average of seven major trophies compared to a pre-200 average of five.

These findings suggest Zidane, a young coach in his first season of management who won trophy after trophy as a player, stands a fair chance of claiming Real’s eleventh European Cup this season.

It’s not such good news for Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, however. Manuel Pellegrini, Guus Hiddink and Arsene Wenger are all highly experienced managers on the wrong side of 42.

bWin's statistics show why Zinedine Zidane fits the bill (Getty)

Research compiled by bWin