How the Spanish have combined beautiful football and a winning mentality to dominate Europe

From Cruyff, to Guardiola and Zidane, Spanish football continues to stay ahead of its time as its rich legacy passes on.

When Pep Guardiola announced his departure as FC Barcelona's manager in 2012, many were convinced that the "Spanish domination" over Europe wil finally come to an end. Suddenly, their threat didn't look so dangerous anymore with both Barcelona and Real Madrid failing to impress. But, the same critics would be proved wrong quite magnificently by the Spanish over the course of the corresponding seasons.

While the Real Madrid and Barcelona teams of the past have been extremely dominant, one must credit the ground-work laid by the individuals over two decades ago. After the Spanish clubs had lost their reputation as European heavyweights having not won the UEFA Champions League for over 20 years, the immaculate work of Johan Cruyff changed the landscape of the game.

After an incredible career as a player, Cruyff took charge of Barcelona when they were in a major crisis and changed how they were viewed by the football world. He introduced the "Tiki-Taka" style of play which was inspired from his work at Ajax at the height of his powers. Cruyff brought the Champions League back to Spain when Barcelona won it for the first time in their history in 1992.

Pep Guardiola inherited his total football strategy from Johan Cruyff

That monumental occasion not only kick-started something special for them, but it also motivated their biggest rivals in Real Madrid to come up with a hard-hitting answer of their own.  Lorenzo Sanz, who was the then President of Madrid, took a big gamble by bringing in stars like Davor Suker and Predrag Mijatovic with his own money. But. it paid off and Madrid won the Champion League two times in three years between 1998-2000 after failing to do it for over three decades beforehand.

The inception of the "Galactico" mentality came from Sanz but was properly introduced by Florentino Perez who vowed and succeeded at bringing back the glory days of Madrid. While Barcelona evolved as a club as "tiki-taka" was re-introduced in a special manner by Pep Guardiola, Real struggled to find back the elite mentality which was seen for a few years after Perez's introduction as President.

It was only after the return of a former "Galactico" in Zinedine Zidane, who had himself played during a special period for the club, did Madrid gain back their confidence and the elite winning mentality. "There is no secret. It is just a lot of hard-work. What I am doing is just a continuation - I have just started as a coach," Zidane said when asked about his "secret to success" over the years.

While he's being quite modest, one has to believe him on the continuation part. Much before Zizou's magic spread through the Bernabeu, the likes of Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti had done their part in making Real Madrid the giants they're recognized as. It was Mourinho who ended Barcelona's untouchable dominance and brought back the La Liga title to the Bernabeu after almost six years, while Ancelotti brought home the coveted Champions League crown.

Mourinho and Ancelotti played a big part in building Real Madrid into what they've become today. None of the players signed by Zidane started in any of the three Champions League finals, proving how good a squad he inherited.

However, while one can argue that Zidane was lucky to inherit a world-class squad, it was all due to his winning mentality and incredible work as a man-manager that he etched this bigger than everyone else kind of attitude in the squad. He had to work with some notable egos, but the way he honed the young players he received was especially stunning. Casemiro, Marco Asensio, Lucas Vasquez and Dani Carvajal have all improved drastically.

Not only that, but he gave the experienced players the freedom to lead from the front. The once termed "flop" Luka Modric was given the keys to be the commander of Madrid's midfield and he helped make life easier for Casemiro and Toni Kroos.

“I’m not the best coach, I’m not the best tactically,” Zidane said. “But I have something else. I have desire and passion and that means a lot more.” While this is definitely modesty on Zidane's part, it's quite believable about how desire and passion have trumped "tactics" in Madrid's game.  No doubt they are setup brilliantly tactically, but when it comes to making clutch decisions the players show more desire on the field than their opponents.

Sacchi's Milan once beat Real Madrid 5-0

Zidane's philosophy can seem to be influenced by the great Arrigo Sacchi, who floored teams with his majestic AC Milan side in the late 80s. While Zidane's Madrid might not be as proficient or as "dazzling" as the Milan side who played "Total Football," it's his similar ideology to Sacchi which has made him thrive at Madrid.

"The only way you can build a side is by getting players who speak the same language and can play a team game", Sacchi was quoted as saying about his Milan side. This is quite applicable to Zidane's Madrid, where the players from different countries seem to have an unbelievably impressive rhythm to their game. Despite Cristiano Ronaldo hogging the spotlight many a times, Real always played a "team game" under Zidane, who gave equal emphasis to each and every player and gave everyone their own crucial role in the squad.

Meanwhile, Barcelona have gone through a topsy-turvy ride in Europe over the past decade or so after being highly dominant under Guardiola. Following his departure, they did win the Champions League under Luis Enrique, but things went south after that. Having only qualified for the semi-finals once in the past five seasons, Barcelona need to rely less on their captain Lionel Messi and learn a lesson from their rival Madrid clubs to get back to the pinnacle of European club football.

While Madrid and Barcelona have enjoyed unmatched dominance in Europe over the years, the "second rung" of La Liga teams have proved why Spanish football has more than just these two. Atletico Madrid and Sevilla have both been surprisingly successful in Europe over the past few seasons, with Diego Simeone's energetic side even reaching the Champions League final twice in the last five seasons, only to lose out to the superior Real.

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Sevilla were a revelation under Unai Emery, who despite losing key players every season, brought in stronger reinforcements and made them an unpredictable threat which helped them win the Europa League thrice in a row and be established as European heavyweights of sorts. Atletico's recent Europa win proves how the club is finally getting a hold of winning things in foreign lands and will be a bigger threat in seasons to come.

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Spanish football has definitely undergone a change since Spain lifted the World Cup eight years ago and amidst all the "tiki-taka" and hype about Guardiola's Barcelona, there's been a drastic evolution in the domestic game after he left. Zidane's Madrid proved that there's more than "Tiki-Taka" in Spain as he has etched an unprecedented kind of winning mentality which has made them play to win rather than to impress.

The "giants" of Span are now focused on creating an impenetrable midfield base, defend surprisingly deep when needed and be a force to be reckoned with on counter-attacks. Like Guardiola, Zidane's departure as Real Madrid manager might make many think that the Spanish dominance in Europe will come to an end, but it would be mighty foolish to count them out knowing their ability to bounce back even stronger.