Real Madrid sack Julen Lopetegui, Santiago Solari named interim coach

The writing on the wall eventually came for Julen Lopetegui, who, on Monday was replaced by Santiago Solari as the new Real Madrid coach, following a string of poor results, the latest of them being a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of arch-rivals Barcelona in the La Liga.

Italian coach Antonio Conte was the front-runner to take over from Lopetegui but Real Madrid named Solari, the current coach of the B team to take charge of the senior side on an interim basis till they appoint a full-time manager.

Also read: Felt that I was no longer needed at Real Madrid: Cristiano Ronaldo

A hard-hitting statement was issued by the club wherein they said that there was, “great disproportion between the quality of the staff at Real Madrid” adding that there is a disparity between the quality of the side and their recent performances.

Real Madrid has had a very tough time so far this season. After they reached the pinnacle of success by winning their third consecutive Champions League title this year, they were hit by the twin departures of Zinedine Zidane and star man Cristiano Ronaldo.

Just a day before the World Cup kicked-off in Russia, Lopetegui, the then head coach of the Spanish national team was handed charge of the club and since then, it’s been all downhill for the manager.

He was tasked to lead a club who just saw lost their biggest star in Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus. Adding to that, the low morale and self-confidence coupled with the poor form of the players increased his woes and eventually lead to his dismissal, months after his appointment.

Real Madrid now sit at the ninth place in the league table in La Liga where they have had four wins, two draws and four losses to their name in the 10 matches they’ve played so far. They have only managed to muster 14 points in all these games and one could feel that a possible sacking of Lopetegui was on the cards.

Former Chelsea coach Antonio Conte was tipped as the favourite to replace Lopetegui but his contract talks have stalled because he needs to forego his EUR 10 million payment from the London club–a sum which he was supposed to get after he was sacked this summer, reports from goal.com suggest.

Image credit-The National