An impromptu press conference called early Wednesday in Russia by the Spanish National Team had the media abuzz. The announcement made by the Royal Spanish Football Federation President Luis Rubiales stated that new Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui would be relieved of his position with La Roja. Here is why.
"“We have been obliged to fire the national coach,” said Rubiales leading off the press conference in Krasnodar. “We wish him the best, he has done an excellent job in getting us to the tournament. But the federation cannot be left outside the negotiation of one of its employees, and find out just five minutes before a public announcement.”"
What a wild two days for the replacement for Zinedine Zidane. It is incredibly rare to see someone go from one big job, to two big jobs, then back to one in the span of just a couple days. Whatsmore, Lopetegui was sacked two days before Spain faces Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in their first group stage match.
RFEF President Rubiales was clearly frustrated in regards to the way the former goalkeeper turned coach handled this situation. He was angry at Julen for going behind the team’s back and agreeing to the deal with Real Madrid less than half a week before the opening match of the tournament.
The fact that the RFEF felt the need to terminate the man who had been in charge for nearly three years just a day after he had made plans for his next job shows how angry they truly are and were.
Not two hours after the press conference announcing Fernando Hierro as the man who will lead the team through the world’s tournament, reporters caught up to Julen in the Krasnodar airport as he was catching a flight back to Madrid.
"He humbly said, “I am very sad, but I hope that we play a magnificent World Cup and we win. We have a magnificent team and I hope that we win the World Cup.”"
I was very excited to see the new manager take a team full of Madrid players deep into this tournament, however, after hearing that he left the RFEF and the higher up’s around the national team in the dark is pretty messed up.
This is a situation that could have easily been avoided in the first place! Lopetegui could have simply agreed to a deal in principle with Los Blancos, and signed following the conclusion of the tournament.
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However, the desire to coach the biggest team in the world and receive a significant pay bump is hard to resist, even for a month.
Despite this being a disappointing situation, it could actually be a good thing for the club in the near future. Julen Lopetegui can dedicate his time to watch his players and figuring out what he has to work with heading into this upcoming season.
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