According to the schedule, Real Madrid would arrive in Milan at noon on the day before the Champions League Final.
That morning, the team would hold its final training session in Madrid. After arriving in Milan and taking a short rest, they would head to San Siro Stadium for a pre-match familiarization session. This was also a carefully devised plan by the coaching staff.
There was no other way. Real Madrid had one fewer week than Atletico Madrid to prepare, so they could only race against time.
But on the afternoon before the team's departure, after training ended, Yang Yang and Zidane were both invited to the club's office building in Valdebebas. They had two main tasks, one of which was to attend Zidane's contract renewal ceremony.
When Zidane first took office, he had signed a one-year contract with Real Madrid. It had been a trial run, but after he coached for a season, Real Madrid was determined to extend his contract and showed ample sincerity regarding his salary. After much deliberation, Zidane decided to renew until 2018, for another two years.
His explanation was much the same as Yang Yang's: he wanted to keep the contract length reasonable.
Guardiola had once made a very accurate observation: excessively long contracts easily made people complacent. With a long-term contract as security, a head coach gained a sense of safety, and it became easy for him to grow lax.
By contrast, money had never been an issue for Zidane. He did not even think about whatever figure Real Madrid offered, let alone negotiate. He simply signed, because he did not care about money at all.
Zidane's golden name had been tied to Real Madrid ever since the first Galácticos era, becoming one of the most accomplished and commercially valuable names in world