Zinedine Zidane’s French Defensive Star Pivotal For Real Madrid’s Champions League Success

KEY POINTS

Real Madrid is coming off as the reigning La Liga champions
One key point for Real Madrid's success in the Champions League is their defense
Ferland Mendy has been one of the more reliable players for Zidane in terms of the defensive end

There’s no question that Real Madrid is one of the most dominant teams in Europe. If there’s one thing that can be expected from Zinedine Zidane’s team in this year’s UEFA Champions League, it’s that stars such as Ferland Mendy will lead their elite defense.

It has been evident throughout the recent La Liga season that Real Madrid is a defensive force against every team they faced up against. In 38 La Liga games, they only conceded only 25 goals from their opponents. While their offense has propelled them to hoisting the championship trophy, their defense was what anchored Real Madrid in being the best across Spain. That same intensity as an overall effort is expected in the upcoming knockout Champions League games especially in the second leg matchup against Manchester City.

This can all be attributed to the energy that Mendy gives to the team. The French star has been tremendous throughout his stay with Real Madrid as he facilitates the entire defense of the club. Throughout his career, he has averaged 1.3 tackles a game to go along with 0.9 clearances and a dribbled past per game of 0.3. While his defense is his key contribution to the team, in 31 appearances with Los Blancos, he has also already tallied a goal and four assists.

Per Fansided’s The Real Champs, the 25-year-old is deemed almost unbeatable in one-on-one situations. With his incredible burst of speed, matched with his explosive first step, Mendy has developed into one of the more important players for Zidane and the rest of the Santiago Bernabeu-based squad.

The consistent performance of Zidane’s top players has helped the veteran manager notch his 11th trophy for the club in the recently concluded La Liga tournament. The cerebral mindset of Zidane coupled with his trusty roster puts his team in a position to dominate in years to come.

The club has won Champions League multiple times under Zidane’s leadership before and they’re looking to do the same care of incredible defense spearheaded by the likes of Mendy.