'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Following the unceremonious resignation of Zinedine Zidane in May in the aftermath of guiding Real Madrid to her third consecutive Champions League triumph, the club was in need of a replacement, and they turned to the Spain dugout to seek one.
After entering secret negotiations with Julen Lopetegui and announcing his appointment two days before the start of the World Cup, the Spanish Federation was riled that they were not consulted before such drastic actions were taken and fired Lopetegui.
The 52-year-old has had a less than a spectacular managerial career, yet to win a major honour in management. His biggest club job prior to the Madrid job was as coach of Porto for two trophyless seasons, it, therefore, came as a surprise to many when he was announced as the new manager of Los Blancos.
Lopetegui arrived at Real Madrid which had just won three consecutive Champions League titles and boasted multiple world-class players in all departments of the squad. However, there were certain factors which pointed to a rough patch ahead for him. In no particular order, we list five reasons which meant Lopetegui was always going to find life hard as a Real Madrid manager.
#5 The sale of Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009 as a flamboyant tricky showman who predominantly featured on the wings for a then world record transfer fee.
He has since then morphed into arguably the greatest player of all time, and justified every penny spent on him and some more, with his otherworldly performances inspiring Real Madrid to numerous titles.
In his nine years at the Bernabeu, CR7 defied logic, science and biology, and somehow kept finding a way to up the ante even when naysayers and critics suggested that he was past his prime.
His numbers are well documented, so there is no need of repeating them. It seemed like Ronaldo scored goals for fun.
After dropping hints throughout the summer, the 33-year-old finally departed Real for Juventus in a shock move which not many expected, and he has also continued his legacy in Italy.
He left Real with a staggering goal ratio of over a goal per game, which is surreal when you consider that he played at the highest level and faced the biggest clubs in the world for his nine seasons in Spain.
He has continued his performances in Turin and currently sits second on the Serie A scorers charts with seven league goals and four assists (more than any Real Madrid player) from just 10 Serie A matches.
Ronaldo is all but guaranteed to score 40+ goals every season, and any team in the world is bound to suffer from the loss of such a player, and unfortunately, Lopetegui's arrival in the aftermath of Ronaldo's sale always meant that Real Madrid would struggle to score goals in the Portuguese' absence, and Lopetegui is the man to take a fall for it.
#4 Quite simply, he doesn't have the pedigree of a Real Madrid manager
As stated earlier, Lopetegui has had a moderate coaching career till date. His only prior senior club jobs to the Madrid one were as the coach for Rayo Vallecano and FC Porto in the Portuguese league, and with all due respect to them, neither is nearly on the same pedestal as Real Madrid.
At Porto, he failed to win a single trophy in his two years in charge. The only titles he has won as a manager came at youth level when he led the Spain U19 and U21 sides to triumph in the UEFA European age grade championships in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
He took over the national team job in 2016 and led La Furia Roja to remain unbeaten for the next 20 matches, although it is pertinent to note that this is not as impressive as it looks on first sight, as most of the matches were in qualifiers against weak European competition who Spain are expected to beat, or in dead rubber friendlies which more often than not end in stalemates.
The Real Madrid job is the biggest coaching job in the world, as the club's illustrious history and quest to win every title puts any incoming manager under instant pressure, and only the biggest managers in the world can cope with such pressure.
The caliber of players at the club - serial winners and world-class players who have won everything in the game means that winning the confidence of such players is no mean feat, and the 52-year-old failed to meet the mark in both regards.
Lopetegui arrived in Real Madrid with a relatively sparse CV, and despite his moderately impressive works at other clubs, as David Moyes showed at Manchester United, he just didn't cut the fit to be the coach of the biggest club in the world.
#3 The players had started to show signs of decline
Real Madrid are three times defending Champions League winners, so how could they have achieved this with a team of players on the decline right?
Well, without taking anything from the brilliance of their three consecutive Champions League triumphs, the truth is that Zinedine Zidane deserves maximum praise for inspiring the team to overachieve despite its limitations.
It is a well-known maxim that knockout competitions are not the best way to just the best teams, as clubs could make a speciality of stepping to the occasion on the one night where they know they must either win or get eliminated, and this is what Real Madrid under Zinedine Zidane became renowned for.
Rather, it is league campaigns where the winner is decided after a nine-month marathon, and the consistency required to emerge victorious after 38 matches that can be more effectively used to gauge the best team, as very rarely can a team win a league title on a fluke (Leicester required massive consistency to win the 2016 EPL title).
A team can win the Champions League, World Cup and any other knockout tournament and be described as lucky, as either a fortuitous goal or curious referee decision could have aided them mightily.
It is hard if not downright impossible to see league champions described as lucky, as the team would have had to be the most fortunate team in history to triumph after 38 games in nine months on luck.
Real Madrid's current team has at its core; a group of world-class players who have been together for the last six years, partaking together in all of the club's triumphs in this period, including the last three Champions Leagues, and four in the last five years.
Real Madrid are three times defending champions, but they never really gave off the vibe of being the outright best club in the world, as they had a lot of circumstances in their favour.
Despite their triumphs on the continent, Real's league form gave them away as overachievers in Europe, as the club had Ronaldo to bail them out on the big nights in the Champions League.
They finished the last campaign a massive 17 points behind Barcelona, as the players failed to show the requisite performance levels and consistency to last the distance in the league. Results last term were so shambolic that it only took a triumph in the Champions League to end the season on a mild success.
The law of diminishing returns is well known, and this also applies to football, as a player has about five to seven years of peak performance, before starting to take a decline.
The current Real Madrid squad has achieved all there is to win in football, hence there is nowhere else to go but down, despite the FIFPro XI (which is more a popularity contest) suggesting otherwise.
Zinedine Zidane saw all this, and decided to take a walk, as the Champions League triumphs and Ronaldo's presence papered over the cracks in the team. With the Portuguese gone however, there is no more respite for a squad of unmotivated players, which is similar to what happened to the first Real Galactico squad, the Spain golden generation and the current Germany team.
#2 The curious decision to stick with Benzema as the first choice striker
Ronaldo's departure meant that Real would always struggle in front of goal, so it was not surprising when the club was linked with a host of big-name strikers such as Harry Kane and Mauro Icardi.
In scenes which shocked everyone, however, the club decided against pursuing any of them and shockingly chose to stick with Karim Benzema.
The 30-year-old Frenchman was once one of the most lethal strikers in Europe and banged in goals for fun to the benefit of Real Madrid, but those days are long gone, and the hard truth is that Benzema is no longer an elite striker and is only being condoned because of his past glory.
Benzema scored just 5 goals in 31 LaLiga matches last season, while he scored just 11 in 29 the season before. These are poor numbers for a striker at a club like Real Madrid and made a mockery of the world-class midfield services he received.
There were doubts expressed over his suitability to lead the Madrid line, and even though he began the season like a house on fire scoring five goals in his first four matches, he has shown that to be a false alarm and that his detractors were right all along.
He has scored just one goal since then, going on a run of eight matches without a goal in all competitions, and his profligacy in front of goal of goal was the major factor to making Madrid endure its worst run in front of goal since 1985, 465 minutes (almost eight hours of football) without a goal.
Goals are needed to win games, and sadly Benzema cannot guarantee them, hence the decision to stick with him as the main striker is one which all but guaranteed that Real would struggle to score goals and win matches this season.
#1 The team lacks squad depth
For all the brilliance of the Real Madrid first eleven, beyond them, there are not too many options left to the manager.
Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Marcelo to name a few are all among the best in their respective positions, but in the event that they are having a bad day or season (which they all are with the exception of Marcelo), there are limited options for Lopetegui on the bench.
It is widely known that strong benches are necessary in football, as quality additions off the bench are needed to keep the starters constantly on their toes and offer the coach an alternative when there is the need to make an in-game tactical twitch.
This is not more evident than at Manchester City who unarguably have the largest squad depth, as there is a quality backup in each position of the team, and Guardiola can try out multiple systems or bench an underperforming starter.
Also at the camp of eternal rivals Barcelona, this came in handy during a rough patch earlier in the season as Valverde was able to call on the services of Lenglet and Arthur from the bench, and experienced a massive upturn in their fortunes.
Real Madrid was once like that, and in 2016/2017 had an abundance of talent on the bench, and Zidane could call on the services of Asensio, Morata, Isco and James Rodriguez which helped turn the tide in numerous matches to Real Madrid's favour. It, therefore, came as no surprise that the club triumphed in LaLiga that season.
Most of those squad players have departed, and they were largely unreplaced, or replaced by substandard players, with the result being that Lopetegui has just its first eleven and not much else to look to in turning results, and this is never an ideal situation to be in for any coach.
