Deportivo hire Seedorf as coach after seven-match winless run
Five-time Champions League winner takes over until end of season
Spanish club Deportivo La Coruna have hired former Dutch player Clarence Seedorf as coach for the rest of the season.
“I’m happy to have this opportunity to work in football again, in a club with so much history and in a league that gave me so much,” said Seedorf, who played for Real Madrid in the late 1990s.
The former defensive midfielder replaced Cristobal Parralo, who was fired on Sunday, two days after a 5-0 loss at Real Sociedad extended Deportivo’s winless streak to seven matches. The club are 18th in La Liga, in the relegation zone.
“It’s a difficult situation,” Seedorf said. “I like to take on these challenges. It would be easy to go to a place where everything is working well. I can help the club.”
After a long playing career at several top clubs, Seedorf made his coaching debut with AC Milan in 2014, staying on the job only a few months. He also had a brief coaching stint in Chinese football in 2016. He said his lack of coaching experience shouldn’t be a problem, noting Zinedine Zidane had even less experience when he took over at Real Madrid.
Carvajal suspension
Seedorf played for Milan, Inter Milan, Sampdoria, Ajax, and Brazil’s Botafogo. He won the Champions League five times, two with Madrid, two with Milan, and one with Ajax. Seedorf was to start working yesterday, and his first match in command of Deportivo will be on Monday at home against Real Betis.
Meanwhile, holders Real Madrid have been dealt a blow ahead of next week’s Champions League last-16 first leg tie with Paris St-Germain after Uefa said yesterday that it will uphold the decision to suspend defender Dani Carvajal for deliberately picking up a booking.
Carvajal was shown a yellow card in the 90th minute for time wasting in the La Liga club’s 6-0 group stage win over APOEL Nicosia in November.
As it was the full back’s third in that phase of the competition it ruled him out of their final group game, but in theory would have meant he was available for the upcoming round of 16 fixtures without the risk of further immediate suspension.
However, last December Uefa announced that their Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body felt the player breached Article 15 of its disciplinary regulations.
“The appeal lodged by Real Madrid CF has been dismissed and the Uefa CEDB’s decision of 7 December is confirmed,” a Uefa statement said.
“Given that Carvajal did not participate in the match between Real Madrid CF and Borussia Dortmund played on 6 December 2017, the player still has to serve one Uefa competition match for which he would be otherwise eligible.”