Reality Dawns On Real Madrid: Club Sacks Lopetegui As Manager In Just Four Months, Appoints Solari As Caretaker

Real Madrid has sacked its manager Julen Lopetegui within 24 hours of their defeat to rivals Barcelona. Former Real Madrid player and reserve team boss Santiago Solari takes up the role of caretaker coach, the club in a statement have announced.

A statement was released by the club: "Real Madrid's board met today on 29 Oct 2018 and has agreed to end the contract linking coach Julen Lopetegui with the club. This decision has been taken to change the dynamic in which the first team finds itself when all the objectives for the season are still achievable.”

The former Real Madrid and Spanish goalkeeper was sacked from the Spain head coach role just days before their opening game against Portugal for taking the Real Madrid job. Under Lopetegui, Real Madrid had the second worst winning percentage of 42.86 per cent. His short tenure as Los Blancos consisted of 14 matches in total, with six wins, two draws and six defeats.

The defeat on Sunday (28 October) confirmed what was inevitable for a long time. Lopetegui’s tenure at Madrid started with the loss against city rivals Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup. Defeat at home against Levente, away to Sevilla and CSKA Moscow before the Classico did not help his case.

Despite the poor form, Real Madrid has eight players nominated for the Prestigious Ballon d'Or. It is a representation of how successful of a season they had last year winning their third consecutive Champions League under Zinedine Zidane.

Lopetegui came in following the shock exits of Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo. The club bolsters itself with the arrival of Vinicius Jr, Odriozola, Mariano Diaz and Thibaut Courtois.

Santiago Solari will have a chance to rest first team players and give opportunities to the reserves when his side play Mellila n the Spanish Cup on Thursday (2 November).