MUNICH — Unlikely as it seems, it may be time to consider the distinct possibility that Zinedine Zidane — winner of the Champions League in each of his first two seasons as a manager, and now on the brink of guiding Real Madrid to the competition’s final for a third year in a row — may be quite a good coach.

That his brief managerial career has thus far delivered eight trophies in not quite 30 months should have made that perfectly obvious, of course; by this stage, the fact that he could steer his team to a 2-1 victory at Bayern Munich in the first leg of a Champions League semifinal should barely be worthy of note. Zidane the coach, not unlike Zidane the player, has known nothing but success.

And yet the sort of acclaim that flows so freely toward some of his contemporaries, the breathless paeans of praise, the lavish adjectives, the exclamations of genius have, for some reason, continued to elude Zidane, even as he has picked up prize after prize.

He often does not receive mention in discussion as to who, precisely, are the finest coaches of this generation. Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho, of course, would be the first to spring to mind; Zidane has won the Champions League as many times as either of them, and in a fraction of the time.