Real Madrid Sack Julen Lopetegui

By Joshua Walters

Real Madrid have sacked manager Julen Lopetegui just a day after the European Champions were hammered 5-1 by arch-rivals Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

A club statement on Monday said the 52-year-old Spanish trainer's contract was terminated at a meeting of the board of directors of the club.

Youth team coach, Santiago Solari, has been commissioned to hold the fort from Tuesday until a substantive manager is appointed.

The development, the statement said, was to alter the current poor run of the team at this time that the club's targets for the 2018/19 football season are still within reach.

Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick in-between goals from Philippe Coutinho and Arturo Vidal as Barcelona made a little effect of Marcelo's consolation goal to humiliate Real Madrid in the El Clasico.

The Los Blancos were already experiencing their worst start to a La Liga season since 2001, having won just four games, lost three times and drawn twice. 

Sunday's hammering was the last straw that broke the camel's back, much more so as it happened without Barcelona's talisman and the game's living legend, Lionel Messi.

"The decision, taken with the highest level of responsibility, aims to change the dynamics of the first team while all the objectives of this season are still achievable," the statement read.

"The board of directors understands that there is a great disproportion between the quality of the staff of Real Madrid - which has eight players nominated for the next Ballon d'Or, something unprecedented in the history of the club - and the results obtained to date."

Lopetegui replaced Zinedine Zidane in June this year after the latter had led Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions League titles.

Lopetegui's reign saw the result-oriented Real Madrid go on a sharp decline, and the club has opted to stop the ship from sinking further, despite the gaffer's promise to steer it back afloat and ashore.