By Daily Sports on October 22, 2018

Amid the sprawl of headlines calling for Julen Lopetegui to be sacked by Real Madrid on Sunday, Diario AS ran an online poll: who is more guilty, the coach or the club president? Eighty six per cent of 80,000 respondents said: Florentino Perez.

There were whistles at Santiago Bernabeu after Madrid’s 2-1 loss to Levante on Saturday, their fourth defeat in five games and third in a row. There was a scattering of swinging white handkerchiefs too.

But the atmosphere was marked more by deflation than disgust. At the end, as his players hunched on their knees, Lopetegui stood on the touchline, staring into space.

“Julen has the support of the entire team,” Sergio Ramos said. “We are with him to the death,” said Marcelo.

Lopetegui is on the brink – he may well not make the Clasico on Sunday – but there is a sense this “mega crisis”, as termed by Barcelona’s Mundo Deportivo, has been a long-time coming.

In July, days after Cristiano Ronaldo had left for Juventus, Perez defended his recruitment strategy, saying: “Madrid is strengthening its search for young players that will become the next great players of the sport.”

Only one of the last six Madrid coaches to preside over three consecutive defeats was not sacked afterwards. That was Bernd Schuster, whose team had put their feet up after winning the title in 2008.

Marca’s headline ran ‘This Madrid is in ruins’ on Sunday, with the emphasis on ‘this’, while El Pais claim Perez has already decided on change after next weekend’s Clasico at Camp Nou.

Santiago Solari, coach of Castilla, Real Madrid’s B team, could take charge in the short-term but Perez’s problem in hiring a suitable successor in the summer has not been solved four months later.

Mauricio Pochettino, Jurgen Klopp and Max Allegri would all be near-impossible to sign mid-season, while Joachim Low is still attached to Germany.

Antonio Conte is out of work but there is an issue with the Italian’s style of play. Arsene Wenger would be fascinating but high-risk.

For Lopetegui to call off the search, victory is surely essential at home to Viktoria Plzen in midweek. (KweseESPN.)

•Photo shows Real Madrid President Florentino Perez.

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 22, 2018

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