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A comment on YouTube sums up the situation perfectly: "I'm from the future Julen, things are not working well for you."
The message lies under an interview of the popular Spanish talk show La Resistencia of May 16, in which Julen Lopetegui is famous for his impressive work at the helm of a Spanish team that was about to illuminate the World Cup.
Today, he is the boss of Real Madrid, but probably not for a long time. After Sunday's humiliating 5-1 defeat to Barcelona, Lopetegui looks set to be sacked for the second time in four months.
This is the story of a surprising fall of grace that began in strange circumstances and hit the bottom in Barcelona.
No one would have predicted the series of events that took place as a result of this comfortable couch sitting at the edge of the summer.
For starters, no one thought that Zinedine Zidane would resign and let Madrid need a new manager, no one thought that Lopetegui would eventually replace him, and no one thought then that his decision would cost the national coach.
Just two days before the start of the World Cup, Lopetegui was fired by the president of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, who claimed to act on the principle. He added that Lopetegui had accepted the post in Madrid without warning, although the club contested it and his authority was not diluted.
Whatever your opinion on the treatment of the situation by Madrid, Lopetegui and Rubiales, this decision was a shock. Suddenly, Lopetegui would not supervise the culmination of two years of work on the biggest football scene.
Instead, he would take care of what many consider to be the biggest club in the world, having failed only outside of international football, at Rayo Vallecano in 2003 and FC Porto from 2014 to 2016 Oh, and Cristiano Ronaldo, for several talisman seasons of Madrid, would be sold to Juventus.
Nevertheless, things have not started too badly for Lopetegui. When the results went well, including a 3-0 win at home against Roma in the return of the Champions League in September, the new style of his team and the decision not to replace Ronaldo by a big name have were hailed for having valued the collective.
But there is no argument, the results have not gone well and there are now five games without a win. Madrid has not started the season as badly since 2001.
The race started with a 3-0 defeat in Sevilla, continued with a 0-0 draw at home against Atletico Madrid, a 1-0 defeat to Alaves, a 2-1 defeat to home against Levante and now that crushing blow. in the hands of their most bitter rivals.
Whether the result of El Clasico define the time of the directors in charge of Madrid is not necessarily true: Jose Mourinho has notably survived a defeat 5-0 at home in the first of his three seasons.
But the fate of Rafael Benitez was considered almost sealed after a 4-0 fight in November 2015 – he was sacked two months later – while Bernd Schuster was fired two days after declaring that he would " impossible "to beat Pep Guardiola's Barca in autumn 2008.
There is no doubt that Lopetegui can comfort himself with the 18 million euros declared (15.9 million pounds) that will be due if his contract is terminated. This surprising figure would have been included because Madrid's president, Florentino Perez, was forced to hand after several of his favorite targets rejected him.
It is a comforting, if not forceful, position that could help explain his combative appearance in front of the media during Saturday's pre-match press conference. On Sunday, at Camp Nou, he repeated the same message.
"I'm sad but I want to stay in charge," he said.
"It's a hard blow but I'm strong enough to know that everything can be reversed – I have a lot of confidence in this group of players."
You must admire his optimism, speaking a few minutes after seeing his team collapse in the game that matters most.
But while Saturday, there was power, a challenge behind similar words, 24 hours later, it was difficult to frame his image other than by more desperate terms.
It is his face around which crystallizes the result of this match Clasico – Clasico who had to manage without Lionel Messi and Ronaldo and who managed it fairly well.
There is an essential difference between their respective absences. Messi will return to Barca after recovering from a broken arm, Ronaldo will not return to Madrid.
According to reports before this weekend, Antonio Conte, former boss of Chelsea, and Mourinho, of Manchester United, would be the preferred options of Los Merengues to help them out of this uncomfortable position.
And speculation after Sunday's match focused on Italian conté, several media said that Madrid would make the decision that everyone expected from him Monday and dismissed Lopetegui, a man who, four months ago, could nothing make of bad.
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