On Monday, Real Madrid confirmed what we all knew was happening.
Head coach Julen Lopetegui was given the boot with the 5-1 thumping by Barcelona the straw that broke the camel’s back.
It does not matter who are, there is no coming back from that but when you throw in five defeats in seven, then the situation becomes critical and even if Lopetegui had managed to mastermind a result over the old enemy there was a sense that nothing could save him.
It has been quite the fall from grace for the man who went nearly two years unbeaten as Spain manager before his association with Real Madrid began, and the wheels started to fall off.
After Real confirmed Lopetegui would take over from Zinedine Zidane after the World Cup, the Spanish football association were left fuming after finding out literally minutes before the announcement and Julen was sacked literally hours before Spain kicked off their World Cup campaign against Portugal.
Five months later and Lopetegui’s nightmare has continued with another dismissal at Real Madrid so what next for the former Porto man? And can he rescue his career?
Right now, Lopetegui’s stock has never been lower but time is a wonderful healer.
However, it is unlikely any European giant would come in for the man who is viewed as having turned his back on his nation.
His inability to oversee a new era at Real Madrid was not all his fault as losing the vital cog of Cristiano Ronaldo was never going to be an easy task.
Some time off is set to ensue but there may be one avenue the Spaniard may pursue, a return to Porto.
Although his first stint ended in dismissal, he still boasted a 69%-win rate and with current Porto boss Sérgio Conceição’s contract up in the summer and the Portuguese former Nantes manager is often courted by Premier League clubs.
It has been a tough ride for Lopetegui but he is resilient enough to get back to the top and rebuild his career once again.
Well, this is the result of betrayal – betrayal on both sides, RM corruption and betrayal to every footballing sense – winning 3 CL on the back of Refereeing and EUFA officials bribes … and Lupetegui’s betrayal to his nation at the world cup – looking at the team he picked for the world cup was telling a story of RM favoritism and created doubts of a move to RM – which was later confirmed – I mean, how could anyone pick up Nacho ahead of Jordi Alba ?? … or drop Sergi Roberto …. etc .. ?? .. I believe Lupetegui arrival at RM was in the wrong time, RM could never be helped by the Refs anymore and VAR is ruthless and leaves nothing to be desired – basically, 2 scandalous personalities teamed up together to produce a disastrous cabbage of team results. After all, birds of feather flock together.