Bettoni, Zidane's firefighter: Who is he and how did they become friends?

Posted Saturday, January 23, 2021 by Marca.com

David Bettoni has long been Zinedine Zidane's right-hand man, yet he will now be catapulted into the position of Real Madrid's stand-in head coach whilst the Frenchman recovers from COVID-19.

Zidane tested positive on Friday morning and will now have to undergo a period of isolation and Bettoni will have to take charge of the team.

The friendship between the two goes back a long way, right back to the latter years of the 1980s, when Zidane signed for Cannes and ended up living at a home for young players in Mimont.

"Cannes didn't have a training facility and the boys lived in the city," recalled Mickael Madar, a former teammate of Bettoni and Zidane.

"Bettoni needed a bidet to give himself a foot bath, to relieve his blisters, and only Zidane had one in his room.

"Sharing things like that created a very strong bond."

That's exactly what happened when Bettoni went to play in Italy and Zidane followed suit by joining Juventus.

Despite the fact Bettoni wasn't as qualified as others, Zidane never thought of anybody else who he wanted as his assistant coach more than his friend.

He knows Zidane's work methods perfectly, he has been with him in his three Champions League triumphs as a coach and it's noted how animated he is in the dugout.

It wasn't until 2017 that Bettoni took the required steps to earn his own coaching qualifications, something which stands him in good stead for the opportunity he now has.

This won't be the first time Bettoni has taken charge of Los Blancos, as he did so when Zidane was forced to return home after the death of his brother, although that was for just a singular match.

"They were always together, they looked like twins even though one had dark hair and the other blonde," recalls former Cannes teammate Denis Armbruster.

"They would eat together every night, they became known as David and Yazid."

Zidane trusts Bettoni completely, although this latest setback could hardly come at a worse time for the head coach as he is living under significant pressure after the Copa del Rey elimination to Alcoyano.