Winning the league is Zidane's obsession Real Madrid The priority for the Real Madrid coach

Real Madrid begin the 2019/20 season this Saturday in Galicia with a fixture against Celta Vigo in LaLiga Santander, the competition Zinedine Zidane has marked as a priority for this season.

As much as the Frenchman knows that the Champions League is the essence of Real Madrid, the capital city club have won the league title 33 times and this is more than any other Spanish club.

Zidane wants to add to that tally and to halt the domestic dominance of Barcelona, who have won eight of the past 11 championships.

Barcelona finished 17 and then 19 points ahead of their rivals in the past two seasons, with Atletico Madrid even finishing as runners-up ahead of Real Madrid in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Zidane spoke about the importance of the league when he arrived again in March.

"I've always maintained that the league is the most important thing for me, as it's the day to day," he said at the time.

"It's the most complicated thing to win.

"We'll try to start LaLiga in the best possible way next season.

"That'll be an important idea from pre-season onwards.

"It has to be the primary objective, without disrespecting any other competitions."

Part of Zidane's logic is the idea that strong performances in the league can keep a team competitive and ready to go in the cup competitions too, as was the case in 2016/17 when he oversaw a LaLiga and Champions League double.

Of the 19 league titles up for grabs since the turn of the century, just six have been won by Real Madrid compared to the 10 of Barcelona.

Zidane wants another one for the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu trophy room and to become the eighth Real Madrid coach to win at least two league titles.