Real Madrid vs Deportivo La Coruna - Zidane makes managerial debut

All eyes will be on new Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday as he prepares to make his top-level coaching debut.

The Frenchman, who has stepped up from his role as Castilla coach to succeed Rafael Benitez, kicks off his reign with a home game against Deportivo La Coruna.

The appointment of Zidane, a great supporters' favourite after his successful time with the club as a player, has generated plenty of excitement as fans hope he can have a similar impact in Madrid as Pep Guardiola did at Barcelona.

He too enjoyed success with the Catalans as a player and stepped up from coaching the B team to make Barcelona his first senior appointment - with spectacular results.

Zidane's task on the domestic front is to rein in Barcelona - now coached by Luis Enrique - as well as city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Atletico lead the way in the Primera Division on 41 points, with Barca on 39 and Real third with 37. Barca also have a game in hand on both Madrid clubs owing to their involvement in the Club World Cup last month.

Real president Florentino Perez dismissed Benitez following last weekend's 2-2 draw at Valencia, and Zidane has acknowledged that being a mid-season appointment has to be handled with diplomacy.

"The important thing is to keep the players' spirits high, I think they've done a good job," the 1998 World Cup winner said during his first press conference as Real coach earlier this week.

"We have to think that the work done by Benitez has been good and I want to wish him all the best for the future. My message is 'work'. We are going to try to do things right, help the players and that is all. I hope that my football is positive and balanced. That is what I want to bring and going forward we'll see."

Real trained with their full 23-man squad on Friday and all are available for selection against Depor except for the suspended Mateo Kovacic.

Dani Carvajal could feature after finally making a full recovery from a thigh injury while Zidane must assess the fitness of Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos. Should the latter not be fit, Zidane has a straight choice between Pepe and Raphael Varane to play in central defence.

Depor are seventh and are tough to beat, having lost only one of their nine away games in La Liga this season.