While Zinedine Zidane and Imanol Alguacil have each come a long during their coaching careers, their rivalry started at Valdebebas and will continue there on Monday when Real Madrid host Real Sociedad in LaLiga Santander.
Their very first meeting took place on December 13, 2014, when they coached their current clubs' respective B teams - called Castilla and Sanse.
Imanol had just taken over as coach of Real Sociedad's B team then, earning a promotion after Asier Santana was sacked shortly into the 2014/15 campaign.
On that day, at Segunda B level, Real Madrid won 3-1. In that match, Alvaro Odriozola, Luca Sangalli and Jon Bautista all featured for La Real that day.
From there, Imanol and Zidane eventually earned promotions to their clubs' first teams, but not before meeting twice more at Segunda B level. Real Sociedad's B team won 1-0 on May 2, 2015, in the return game of that 2014/15 season, before Castilla won 2-1 on September 12, 2015, not long before Zidane was brought in to replace Rafa Benitez.
It wasn't until May 12, 2019, that their fourth meeting arrived. Curiously, this was actually with both coaches in their second stints in charge of their clubs' first teams, as they never crossed paths during their first stints.
That game in May of 2019, in the penultimate matchday of the 2018/19 season, saw La Real win 3-1 in San Sebastian.
They have met four more times and the overall record from their eight meetings is four wins for Zidane, three wins for Imanol and the goalless draw at the start of this season.
If looking at the five matches with these coaches in charge of the first teams, then it's two wins for Zidane, two wins for Imanol and the one draw.
Now, on Monday night and at the same stadium where this very respectful rivalry started, they'll face off for a ninth time.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com