Zinedine Zidane, French football legend, three-time winner of FIFA best player in the world, nicknamed “the Magician”, caused a social media uproar on Twitter with the hashtag #Zidane when he was hired as manager of Real Madrid “Los Blancos”.
Manchester United prominent manager Sir Alex Ferguson once said, “give me Zidane and 10 pieces of wood and I’ll win the Champions League” and his former Brazilian teammate Ronaldo said “with Zidane in the pitch, football is more enjoyable”.
Zidane’s promotion from the Real Madrid Castilla youths team to El Santiago Bernabéau to head coach caused fans around the world to express their joy on Monday when Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez made the announcement.
The hashtag #Zidane was used by millions of users spreading the news online and commenting on the sacking of Rafael “Rafa” Benitez.
The Zidane effect has caused a storm in press and social media, with an average of 660 tweets per minute, anticipating the news that Zidane would be manager before the official announcement was made. However, when Los Blancos released a statement, followed by a press conference, announcing Zidane as the new manager, the buzz increased to more than 3,000 tweets a minute.
