Lopetegui and Real Madrid: from the World Cup to unemployment in four months

Julen Lopetegui, today, dedicates good words to Real Madrid. “It is not a big team, but the following. Madrid is always dangerous, and in these situations more so. And without a doubt it is very well directed (by Zidane). “The Basque is a restrained man, he does not drop a headline, but in his secrecy there is no resentment towards the white club, despite the fact that his passage through it was anything but a bed of roses.

We talk about its second stage. Before there was a first, between 2006 and 2009, with Ramón Calderón in the presidency, in which he developed as an international scout first and as a Castilla coach later (he did not achieve the goal of being promoted to Second). After almost a decade of those days, in June 2018, he took charge of a Real Madrid that had just won three Champions League in a row. A poisoned candy from day one, as it cost him his dream of leading Spain in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Through its agents, Carlos Bucero Y Jorge Mendes, Lopetegui agreed with Madrid to leave the national team and join the white project after the World Cup; was the solution chosen by Florentino Pérez after Zidane's surprise departure, days after celebrating a new European Cup in Kiev. Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF, did not accept it willingly, considering that the announcement had to wait until the end of the championship (to which Madrid refused, subjected to the pressure of finding a coach, every day bigger). And Rubiales cut his losses: he dismissed the coach two days before his debut in Russia against Portugal, putting Fernando Hierro, until then sports director, in his place. Impossible to know how Spain would have fared with Julen at the helm, although the qualifying phase was very hopeful; without him, it was a disaster, Spain miraculously qualified for the round of 16, where they fell against the host.

Lopetegui, however, chose to look on the positive side. “TOyer was the saddest day of my life, but today is the happiest day of my life, “he confessed during his presentation in white. He was able to start planning the preseason with much more margin and He started, despite the defeat against Atlético in the European Super Cup, with excellent feelings. But it didn't take long for things to go wrong.

He started against Sevilla, precisely at Pizjuán, where he fell with a crash 3-0. And the streak continued: in seven games, five defeats and one draw. Madrid accused the lack of a goal after Cristiano left for Juventus and the failure to replace those goals (Mariano was signed, who did not count too much). Y On October 29, after falling 5-1 in the Classical, Lopetegui ceased.

Shots between Lopetegui and Madrid

He directed 14 games, of which he lost six and won another six. In just four and a half months, he went from World Cup heaven to unemployment. The day before the match against Barcelona, ​​his father made some very harsh statements in The world: “Now a leading scorer is missing. None have been brought to him. What if Neymar if this other one but no one has arrived … My son has had 50 goals stolen. You have to settle for what you have at home. Don't blame the players. But when there is no material, there is not. There was, but he left. “When communicating his dismissal, Real Madrid hit back:”The Board of Directors understands that there is a great disproportion between the quality of the Real Madrid squad, which has 8 players nominated for the next Ballon d'Or, something unprecedented in the history of the club, and the results obtained to date “.