Real pressure on Lopetegui mounts
MADRID: Real Madrid’s players may have offered a show of public support to Julen Lopetegui but failing to win at home against Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday and their words will mean very little.
Three months into the season, there are few obvious alternatives if the club’s president Florentino Perez decides to wield the axe. Santiago Solari, coach of Castilla, Real Madrid’s B team, could take charge in the shortterm but the troubled search for a suitable coach in the summer would not appear much smoother now.
Mauricio Pochettino, Juergen Klopp and Max Allegri would all be near-impossible to sign midseason, while Joachim Loew is still attached to Germany.
Antonio Conte is out of work but there is an issue with the Italian’s style of play, not to mention any legal wranglings around his compensation package with Chelsea. Arsene Wenger would be fascinating but high-risk.
LOWLY CHALLENGE
For Lopetegui to call off the search, victory is surely essential at the Santiago Bernabeu against Plzen, the Czech team that have only won two Champions League matches in their history.
One theory goes that Perez is keeping the treasury full in preparation for a fresh tilt for Neymar next summer. It might explain too why a move for Eden Hazard has never been pushed through.
In the meantime, Zinedine Zidane and now, Lopetegui, have been charged with papering over the cracks.
Zidane managed it, spectacularly, by winning in Europe, although if Michael Oliver had not puffed his whistle for a borderline 98th-minute penalty against Juventus, Madrid would have been out in the last 16. In La Liga, they finished 17 points behind Barcelona.
Three Champions League titles in a row is no fluke, just as two interventions from the Video Assistant Referee were not the sole reason Madrid lost at home to Levante for the first time in 11 years.
Defensive mistakes, panicky finishing and stodgy build-up all reflected badly on Lopetegui, who made matters worse by leaving Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema on the bench.
Both endured fitness issues over the international break but were excellent in the second half. By then, it was too late.
“I believe in this team more than ever,” Lopetegui said.