By Andreas Vou (@AndreasVou89)

In less than two months in charge, Zinedine Zidane has succeeded in bringing life back to a dejected side. The Frenchman passed his first test at AS Roma on Wednesday but the spotlight will continue to shine on him at the business end of the season.

The dream that became a nightmare for Rafa Benitez as manager of Real Madrid handed the chance for another lover of the club to prove his worth to the ever-demanding president and supporters.

Idolized as a player and deeply respected in his time on the coaching staff, Zidane was the rational, no-risk candidate to take over what was becoming a broken dressing room. Madrid had lost three league matches as well as a handful of draws which saw them lose ground on both leaders FC Barcelona as well as their noisy neighbors Atletico Madrid in the title race. 

The 0-4 home defeat to Barça meant that it was just a matter of time before Benitez got the chop and in the first week of the new year, the guillotine finally dropped on the Spaniard’s brief tenure.

For Zidane stepping into his new role, the expectations were vastly different to any other who has been employed by president Florentino Perez on a permanent basis in recent years. In what is the Frenchman’s first stint with a senior side, observers are not quite sure whether he is a stop gap before a big name is employed, or if he is to be an unexpected revelation.

Perez has long been craving a Pep Guardiola figure – someone who knows his club inside out and is adored by the fans as well as respected by the players. With Zidane ticking all of those boxes, it has allowed the president, who is under intense pressure from all corners of the club, to alleviate some of the criticism by employing a hugely popular man.

So what exactly has changed in his short time in charge? 

Rafa Benitez has always been known to be overly meticulous when it came to tactics, and while it has brought him great success at some clubs, it proved to backfire at Madrid, with some of the bigger names unwilling to bow to his philosophy.

From the offset, Zidane has allowed his players more creative freedom and the license to express themselves on the pitch. To some, this could be seen as bowing down to player power, but instead it appears to be a wise way of handling a previously discontented dressing room.

Knowing the players for some time, Zidane appears to understand that those players, of that such high pedigree, need guidance rather than a complete overhaul of their previous methods and responsibilities.

The result has been five wins and a draw in his first six matches, with an average of just under four goals per game. More importantly, Madrid seem to be enjoying their football again with more free-flowing play and the new boss seems to be reviving the form of Cristiano Ronaldo. 

The big ‘but’ for Zidane however, was that he had yet to face a significant challenge, with four of his first six games coming at home, and the two away games bringing a draw at Real Betis and a narrow defeat at Granada.

Wednesday night’s Champions League last 16 first-leg away to AS Roma provided the 43-year-old his first stern test. It was on these games that he would truly be judged. An assured display and a 0-2 win in the Italian capital sees him pass his first real exam with flying colors. 

And as for Ronaldo, the superstar looked drained and dejected under Benitez, with rumors rife that he was not a fan of the Spaniard’s methods. The opener against Roma was his eighth goal in his seven games under Zidane, and while stats do not always tell the full story, his celebration did. 

Ronaldo selectively chooses his public displays of affection towards managers, as with Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti, so his decision to sprint to the touchline and embrace Zidane on Wednesday was confirmation that he is happy with life under the new boss.

It has been an ideal start for Zidane in his first two months in charge; reinstalling an attractive brand of football and uniting the dressing room has been carried out effortlessly. 

The win over Roma saw him breeze through his first test though the spotlight will no doubt continue to shine on him as the tricky matches come thick and fast towards now and the end of season.