Julen Lopetegui sacked as Real Madrid coach, Santiago Solari appointed interim coach | Football News

MADRID: Real Madrid coach sacked coach Julen Lopetegui three months after the start of his first season after Spanish giants were beaten by Barcelona's rival this weekend, officials said on Monday. champions of Europe.

Real has failed to win in La Liga since his victory over Espanyol on Sept. 22 against the defeats of Sevilla, Alaves and Levante, and his draw against Atletico Madrid before Sunday's 5-1 victory against Barcelona.

The former player and coach of the reserve team, Santiago Solari, was put in command as a result of negotiations between the club and the former boss of Chelsea, Italy, and Juventus president Antonio Conte collapsed on Monday, the club said.

"The board of directors of Real Madrid has met today and decided to waive the contract of coach Julen Lopetegui with the club," said the club in a statement.

"The board considers that there is a disproportionate difference between the actual Real Madrid … and the results achieved so far."

Lopetegui has now lost two jobs in less than five months. He was also fired by the Spanish Football Federation as a coach of the national team the day before the kickoff of the Football World Cup in June for announcing his transfer to Real behind the back of the organization. The preparations for the Spanish tournament in chaos.

The 52-year-old replaced Zinedine Zidane as Real coach after the Frenchman decided to retire from the position after guiding the club to three consecutive titles in the Champions League in May.

After the club's top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, also left for Juventus in July, Lopetegui's relay at Real had a difficult start, beaten 4-2 by the city's rival. Atletico Madrid, in UEFA Super Cup.

His team then won four of their first five La Liga matches and a 3-0 win over AS Roma in their opening game of the Champions League.

But things started to get worse when they were beaten 3-0 by Sevilla last month, resulting in a four-game losing streak in five games, all competitions. During this relay, they also failed to score a goal for eight hours.

Viktoria Plzen's 2-1 victory over the Champions League on Tuesday gave the team a brief respite, but the team was still booed after a poor performance. convincing.

Sunday's 5-1 hammer strike proved to be the last straw for Real's president, Florentino Perez.

In his 10 Liga matches, Lopetegui won four, shot two, and lost four, leaving Real to beat ninth on the board.

The rules of the Spanish Federation give clubs a 14-day period to name their substitute, which means that Argentine Solari, who played for Real between 2000 and 2005, could potentially be in charge of four first-team matches.