Florentino: three failures and a Champions League after firing the coach

Florentino Pérez already knows about the subject “kick the coach out with the current season.” And his experience has not been very enriching, except for the replacement of Rafa Benítez by Zidane himself, in January 2016, which five months later allowed Madrid to win the Champions League against Atleti. But on the three occasions in which the president dismissed the technician with the course already started, it ended badly and the remedy was worse than the disease. This is how it all happened:

Camacho relay (2004-05)

In reality, the Cieza coach resigned, although the sword of his dismissal was already sharpened after a resounding defeat in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen (3-0), accompanied by the substitution of Figo and Ronaldo in the absence of half an hour, which in the noble plant was interpreted as a provocation. After losing four days at Montjüic to Espanyol, Camacho resigned. He was replaced by another beloved veteran at the Bernabéu, García Remón, but Florentino fired him at the Christmas break after a tense discussion with the Madrid exporter in Santander when he decided to leave Beckahm and Roberto Carlos on the bench at El Sardinero. At the beginning he lined up the youth squad Javi García and that took its toll on the noble floor. Madrid beat Racing 2-3, but even so the dismissal of García Remón and Luxembourg arrived in his place, a Brazilian with more smiles than resume. The Brazilian made the team react something, but I am not asking to avoid losing that League in favor of Barça (the Catalans had been four years without achieving it) and he was also dropped from the Champions League, when he fell in the second round against Juventus. In the League he was second, four points behind the Catalans.

Luxembourg relay (2005-07)

The Brazilian fell into disgrace in view of the fact that his famous “magic square” did not pay off in the income statement. The Galacticos began their decline, already being the last year of Figo in the team. After a series of defeats that detached him from the fight for the league title (the 0-3 with Barça and the Bernabéu applauding Ronaldinho was the final trigger), Florentino fired him and put López Caro in his place, who had triumphed with Castilla. Sacchi left and Benito Floro was appointed sports director. The new pair did not work and after a painful defeat in Mallorca (2-1) it was the president who resigned, claiming that perhaps he had been too condescending with the players. López Caro was sentenced after the Champions team was eliminated at the hands of Henry's Arsenal. Madrid finished second again, behind Barça and no less than 12 points behind. López Caro was dismissed (he ended up at Racing Santander) and there were Presidential Elections. Then Ramón Calderón came to the box and Fabio Capello to the bench.

Rafa Benítez relay (2015-16)

Florentino's best experience when deciding to change saddle in the middle of the journey. After a sad draw in Valencia again the Christmas break was used by the president to design the relay. Benítez, who had two more years on his contract, was fired and Florentino promoted Zidane from Castilla to the first team. The Frenchman's charisma and his achievements as a player made both the dressing room and the fans welcome him with open arms. Five months later, Zizou won the Eleventh in San Siro against Atleti del Cholo Simeone, after drawing 1-1 and winning the whites in the penalty shoot-out by materializing all five shots. A success for Zidane who later won two more consecutive Champions. No one else can boast as a coach of such an achievement.

Lopetegui relay (2018-19)

Madrid hired the Guipuzcoan, which provoked by surprise the angry reaction of Luis Rubiales, who dismissed him as coach four days before the start of the World Cup in Russia. Things already started crooked for the good Basque coach. Despite some acceptable initial results (a 3-0 against Roma in the Champions League with a great game), the defeat suffered in the Clásico del Camp against a Barça without Messi (5-1) was the epitaph of his goodbye to the club he always dreamed of to train. In the absence of solutions (the dressing room stopped the arrival of Antonio Conte), Florentino pulled Solari, the Castilla coach. Although the Argentine made drastic decisions that have now revalued his courage (to seat Isco and Marcelo), losing in a week in the League, Cup and Champions, being dropped from the three competitions cost him his position. In March Florentino called Zidane, who owed him one after resigning by surprise after winning the 13th in Kiev. But the final stretch in the League was a disaster, which did not prevent Zidane from continuing … until today.