Julen Lopetegui
By Max Wise
Julen Lopetegui faces the sack by Real Madrid should the Los Blancos lose against sworn rivals, Barcelona, in the epic El Classico on Sunday.
Real Madrid are seventh on the La Liga table after nine games, picking up just 14 points from a possible 27.
This represents their worst La Liga start after the 2001/2002 season when they accrued just 10 points in as many games.
The rampant European Champions have embarrassingly managed just one goal in the last four La Liga games, and are indifferent in the Champions League as they followed up their opening day win over AS Roma with a defeat at CSKA Moscow.
Lopetegui joined Real Madrid in June 2018 after Zinedine Zidane had led the side to its third straight Champions League triumph.
One may suggest that Lopetegui inherited a side that was at its peak, but the other school of thought that it was one on its way to a natural decline, after three successful seasons, can also not be dismissed.
But, however one looks at it, Lopetegui is still likely to be the one to bear the brunt since he works in a club and under the presidency of a man who is result-oriented and demands a win regardless of the materials available and the coach in charge.
Real Madrid does not have the time to rebuild a team, let alone maintain a coach who rarely wins and bags on time to blossom.
Lopetegui is showing no signs of leading his side out of their dismal form, and Sunday’s defeat to Levante at the Bernabeu was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Worse for him is that a trip to the Camp Nou is next on his list, and it would be strange for the Real Madrid manager to keep his job if he compounds the string of poor results with a defeat to Barcelona.
Many elite coaches have fared better than Lopetegui but still got the sack when Real Madrid ran out of patience.
Florentino Perez has worked with five different coaches aside Lopetegui in his second coming as president of the club in 2009, and only one of them resigned as the rest were all sacked.
Manuel Pellegrini signed a 2-year contract in 2009, but was sacked after the season because he lost to Juventus in the semi-finals of the Peace Cup, exited the Copa del Rey after a humiliating 4-1 aggregate defeat to modest Secunda B side Alcorcon, and got booted out of the Champions League by Lyon at the round of 16 stage.
Not even the side's finishing in second place with 96 points, the highest Real Madrid have achieved, was able to save the Chilean trainer.
Jose Mourinho took over with a 4-year contract in 2010 which was extended for another two years in 2012 after he won the La Liga and the Supercopa de Espana that season.
That, however, did not save the then Portuguese Champions League winner from the sack following a defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey finals the following year.
Carlo Ancelotti took over with a three-year contract and led the side to its 10th Champions League trophy in 2014, which was Real Madrid's first since winning the title in 2002.
Ancelotti got the sack in May 2015 after the side exited the Copa del Rey at the round of 16, and Perez summed up the reason as: “At this club, the demands are huge and we need a new impulse in order to win trophies and be at our best.”
Rafael Benitez came up next with a three-year contract in June 2015, was also sacked in 2016, following allegations of unpopularity with supporters, displeasure with players and a failure to get good results against top sides.
Zinedine Zidane succeeded the Spaniard and stepped down from the club in 2017, a week after leading the side to its third straight Champions League win.
Lopetegui has played fewer games as compared to his predecessors, Zidane himself, after Real Madrid’s indifferent start to the 2017/2018 season, was nearing the exit door until an upturn in form led to a third straight European crown.
Real Madrid have not changed. The hunger for domestic and international successes is still high, likewise their zeal to change managers in the midst of poor results and the passion to become the best in every good thing that club football has to offer.
Already some names are being bundled around to take over from Lopetegui with Joachim Low, Antonio Conte, Mauricio Pochettino and Arsene Wenger all reportedly in the frame.
Lopetegui appears defiant and feels more determined than ever to turn things around, but a defeat at the Camp Nou and Real Madrid will go seven points behind Barcelona.
Their season, thus far, would aggravate from being described as difficult to crises, and no Real Madrid coach, in this modern era, has ever survived that.
