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MADRID (Reuters) – Real Madrid suffered two violent shocks in the summer of 2018: the departure of French coach Zinedine Zidane and the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus. But the club is keen to maintain its prestige in the world of football led by Argentine coach Santiago Solari.
On May 26, in the Olympic Stadium of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 3-1, increasing their record number of continental titles (13 titles) and finishing for the third time against Zidane.
The fans of the Royal Club have not long enjoyed this fame. A few days later, Zidane surprised everyone by announcing his departure after two and a half years in office, while he had achieved great success by winning nine titles out of 13 possible.
The news resembled a thunderstorm in the Spanish capital, especially against club president Florentino Perez, who seemed sullen when he sat next to Zidane during the press conference announcing the decision to leave.
Zidane, 46, realized that his last season was not perfect. He left the league and lost his title against rivals Barcelona. He came out of the King's Cup against the modest Liganes, compared to the giants of Santiago Bernabeu. The former French football star has seen the team need a new approach after years of titles.
Peres went into an almost impossible mission to find the alternative because all the logical candidates to succeed Zidane in the Real Tina club were badociated with other clubs. Juergen Club, Liverpool, Mauricio Pocetino, Tottenham and others … The Barcelona coach, Jolene Lobetighe, was chosen as coach and his contract was signed in the midst of preparations for La Roja for the World Cup in Russia.
Lopetti paid the price of the advance announcement of Real, which angered the Spanish federation and forced him to return it two days before his first match of the World Cup against Iberia against Portugal.
– The end of a storm for Ronaldo –
Lopetti took over the reins of technical administration by suggesting to Ronaldo, the club's top scorer, that his career, which started in 2009, had reached his final season. On the occasion of the celebrations of the European title at the Kiev stadium, the best player in the world has launched the first index five times. The next day he seemed to back off to make sure after a few weeks: Ronaldo to Juventus for about 100 million euros.
Ronaldo's departure seemed smooth, a blank page. "I felt inside the club, especially on the side of the president, that I did not have the same appreciation as at the beginning," he said.
"The president's look at me showed that I was no longer an indispensable player."
Unlike the transfer market, Peres has not moved. It was not the financial constraint, of course, but because the stars that the club wanted to hire were not available: the Brazilian Neymar, the Frenchman Kilian Mbabey, the Belgian Edin Hazar … The most prominent name who joined the Madrid battalion, De Chelsea English.
The limited number of contracts was not the only surprise of Real. The team got off to a bad start, especially after Lupetigi inherited an exhausted team after competing in the World Cup in Russia and most of them progressed on their national team.
The first warning was the loss of the European Super Cup against neighboring Atletico Madrid 2-4 ot.
Ronaldo's chances of reaching goals were drastically reduced and the French Karim Benzema and Welsh Gareth Bale failed to close the gap. The Royal Club was not registered for 8 hours between September and October before being seriously beaten against Barcelona 1-5, which led to the resignation of Lopegeti and the appointment of Solari as temporary replacement.
Solari had two weeks to convince the board to make him an official coach. To do this, he won the first four games under his supervision, scoring 15 goals and only two goals, to make the best start for a coach in the history of Real.
Solari then managed to reach the Champions League final, winning his first title by defeating Al Ain 4-1 in the Club World Cup final.
In response to a question about the possibility of a fourth European title, Solari has chosen to praise players and the team that has already defended its colors. He described them as "a group of heroes, warriors, who have won a lot," adding, "I will do everything I can.
© 2018 AFP
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