Real deal Spain coach Lopetegui lands Madrid job

0 Julen Lopetegui will take over at Real Madrid after the World Cup despite signing a contract extension with Spain only last month. Spain coach Julen Lopetegui will take over as Real Madrid manager after the World Cup, the club said yesterday in an announcement that came only three days before the national team’s first game at the tournament.

Real said in a short statement that Lopetegui has agreed to coach the Champions League winners for the next three seasons once Spain’s participation in Russia is over.

The appointment comes as Lopetegui is making his final preparations for Spain’s opening match against Portugal in Sochi on Friday.

The Spanish Football Federation said Real had paid an undisclosed amount to trigger the buyout clause in Lopetegui’s contract.

“The Spanish Football Federation asks for the maximum respect in order to maintain a sense of normalcy around the national team as it is about to debut in the World Cup,” the federation said in a statement.

Lopetegui and Luis Rubiales, who was elected federation president last month, will hold a press conference at Spain’s base camp in Krasnodar today.

Lopetegui takes over from Zinedine Zidane, after he surprised the club two weeks ago by saying he was leaving after winning an unprecedented third consecutive Champions League title.

Lopetegui was Vicente del Bosque’s successor with Spain following the team’s failure to successfully defend their title at the 2016 European Championship.

The 51-year-old Lopetegui is credited with reviving a Spain team that was on the decline in the last years under Del Bosque after it won the 2010 World Cup and two straight Euros. He has kept Spain unbeaten during 20 matches in charge and guided them to a first-place finish in a World Cup qualifying group that included Italy. Part of his success was blending younger talents such as Isco, Marco Asensio and Rodrigo Moreno into a squad led by veterans Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos and David Silva.

Lopetegui will soon coach Ramos, Isco, Asensio and fellow Spanish internationals Dani Carvajal, Nacho Fernandez and Lucas Vazquez at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Hisnamehadnotbeenmentioned among the probable candidatesforthemadridjob. Only last month Lopetegui agreed to extend his contract with Spain’s national team.

The immediate reaction in Spanishmediawastocriticise the timing of the announcement given the possible distraction it could cause before the World Cup.