Lotina will be Iniesta’s new coach in Japan

miguel angel lotina returns to Japan and does it to lead a world champion like Andrés Iniesta. As AS has learned, the Basque, who has trained continuously in the Japanese country since 2017, will be announced as Vissel Kobe’s coach in the next few hours. The team in which, in addition to Iniesta, other Spaniards play, such as Bojan krkic and Sergi Samper -the latter will not be available for Lotina due to a ligament injury-, started the season with three losses and four draws in the J-League, which led the board to decide to seek a change of course with the departure of Atsuhiro Miura. The Spaniard Lluís Planagumá, who was working in the quarry, took over as interim coach during the matches against Kyoto and Tokyo and it is now Lotina who accepts the position. The one from Meñaca arrives accompanied by assistant Iván Palanco and signs for the remainder of the season with an extension option.

Vissel Kobe finished third in the J-League last seasonwhich gave him access to an earlier phase of the AFC Champions League in which it was imposed on Melbourne Victory. Said victory, which came in extra time, was an oasis in the desert for the Japanese team, which this season is penultimate in the league and has only achieved four points out of a possible 24. This is the context in which Miguel Ángel Lotina arrives at Vissel Kobe, who will only direct a league game before traveling to Thailand to play in just 15 days the six games of the group stage of the Champions. The Japanese, who managed to reach the semifinals in their first participation in the continental tournament, will face Chiangrai (Thailand), Shanghai Port (China) and Kitchee (Hong Kong) for a place in the round of 16.

Lotina, an almost certain value

Lotina’s track record in Japan is practically flawless. The Basque arrived in the Asian country in 2017 to take the reins of the Tokyo Verdy, a club with a limited budget which, against all odds, led them to play in the play-off for promotion to the J-League. After two seasons in Tokyo, Lotina made the leap to the First Division to sit on the bench of the osaka cherry tree. In the Spaniard’s first season at the head of the team, Cerezo managed to be the team with the fewest goals in the J-League. He finished fifth, a position that he improved the following year (4th). Later he went to Shimizu, where he did not achieve such good results. Lotina led the team in 45 games in which he had 11 wins, 13 draws and 21 losses. He was fired in November of last year.