Julen Lopetegui’s father rues Cristiano Ronaldo sale for son’s struggles at Real Madrid

Recently sacked Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui’s father reckons that his son failed to find to make a mark in the club because of their decision to sell their star man Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus this summer.

Jose Antonio Lopetegui in an interaction with El Mundo stated that Real Madrid’s failure to replace Ronaldo made things very difficult for his son.

“Cristiano Ronaldo was good,” he began. “Was he cocky? We all have defects, but it turns out he scored 50 goals a season.

“He is missing. You are missing a prominent goalscorer. They haven’t bought one, not a single one.

“There was talk of Neymar and others, but no one came. They have stolen 50 goals from my son!” he said.

After Real Madrid’s third consecutive Champions League title win, Lopetegui was handed the reins of the team following the departure of the legendary Zinedine Zidane. The gap that was left by the Frenchman’s departure further increased when Ronaldo completed a move to Italy.

Also read: Real Madrid sack Julen Lopetegui, Santiago Solari named interim coach

Despite Real Madrid insisting that they were well off without the services of Portuguese forward, the results told a different story. Lopetegui began with a loss to city rivals Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final but then had his team perform steadily in the La Liga. But a loss to Alaves started the slump that sadly the 52-year old didn’t manage to arrest, eventually leading to his removal after 14 matches in charge. Real Madrid B team coach Santiago Solari was handed the responsibility on Monday an interim basis.

Lopetegui’s father further added that he wasn’t using Ronaldo’s departure as an excuse to explain his son’s struggle at Real Madrid.

He said, “He had to settle with what he had and don’t get me wrong, he is delighted with the players he had,” he added.

“He usually says: ‘I have great people, they give everything they’ve got.’ He doesn’t blame the players.”

“But when there is no material, there isn’t. There was but he left,” Lopetegui Sr further added.

Image credit-Goal.com