Imagine, you are Florentino Perez. What will you do? Will you fire Julen Lopetegui immediately? Or will you wait till Sunday to see Real performance against Barcelona?
And now imagine, you are Julen Lopetegui. What looked like a dream career (“coaching Spain at World Cup and then moving to manager seat at Real Madrid”) is turning to personal disaster. In June, Lopetegui was fired immediately after signing the contract with Real just days before World Cup 2018 start. And three months later your Real Madrid sits at 7th place in La Liga, with just one point in last four league matches. Champions League performances are just slightly better. Lopetegui knows that the firing call from Perez can come any minute.
Neither Perez nor Lopetegui expected such situation back in June. But now they have to face it. El Clasico on Sunday can impact Real Madrid in a big way. Lopetegui is basically fighting for his survival at the job. And even the win in Barcelona does not give him job security.
The Soccer Column is irregular and biased opinion column written by Soccer Guru about everything soccer related.
The hard decision lies in front of Florentino Perez. He hired the best possible replacement in summer after Zidane surprisingly decided to leave Madrid. Though, it does not work out. It is hard to blame Julen Lopetegui solely. There are definitely more factors which caused this situation.
Real Madrid squad is definitely weakened with Ronaldo departure to Juventus. There is no replacement for such spectacular player like he is. If you add exhaustion after the long last season (Champions League final + World Cup) nobody can be very surprised with results.
So what should Florentino Perez do? I would stay put. La Liga title is far from lost thanks to similar losses of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Champions League knock-out stage qualification still looks absolutely safe. I would give Lopetegui more time. Even after the loss at Nou Camp on Sunday. I would focus more on the transfer window in January. Eden Hazard or Mbappe? Someone who could help immediately on the pitch and also with revenues.
What is your opinion?
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