The Nightmare of Julen Lopetegui at Real Madrid

In football, small decisions can have big consequences—sometimes good, but sometimes life-changingly bad. Julen Lopetegui would agree, as the manager, once tipped to lead Real Madrid to glory, suddenly found himself in danger of getting relegated from the Premier League after putting West Ham – who won a European Trophy just two years ago – in serious relegation trouble.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit Spain’s build-up to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Legendary boss Vicente del Bosque had just announced his retirement, and despite being linked with a move to Wolverhampton that year, Lopetegui could not turn down the chance to manage his own country.

He had what it took, of course, and was immensely successful with Spain’s junior teams, winning the U-19 and U-21 European Championships.

The senior national team was a different ballgame, and Lopetegui was up for the challenge of managing some of the most exciting players in the world at the time—Sergio Ramos, Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta, David Silva, Isco, and others.

Surely, this group of players had what it took to win, or at least be competitive on the world stage, and many of them had won the whole thing just two editions earlier. Spain was also flawless in the qualifying rounds, having won 9 out of their 10 group games, scoring 36 goals and conceding just 3. So, what went wrong?

Real Madrid’s Arrival on the Scene

Real Madrid was also going through a significant transition at the time. Their star talisman and arguably their greatest player of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, had just joined Juventus in the same summer that UEFA Champions League three-peat-winning manager Zinedine Zidane announced his departure.

Just a few weeks before the World Cup, it was revealed that Lopetegui would be the new Real Madrid manager, in a move that shocked the Spanish footballing community.

Why would Madrid announce such huge news at the eleventh hour? And why would Lopetegui agree to make it public? Speculations began to arise about Lopetegui not being focused enough.

“You can’t do things this way, two or three days before the World Cup. We have been compelled to make this decision,” former President Luis Rubiales said.

It was reported that top players in the squad, like Ramos – Madrid’s captain, interestingly – fought for Lopetegui to stay back, but Rubiales was livid and didn’t want a non-committed man in charge of La Roja in the FIFA World Cup in Russia that year. Real legend Fernando Hierro replaced Lopetegui, and Spain crashed out of the Round of 16 to the hosts on penalties.

The Aftermath and Real Madrid

Putting the World Cup behind him, Lopetegui returned to Madrid, looking to follow in the footsteps of Zidane, which was never going to be easy, not just because of the Frenchman’s glittering success but also because he was a legend in the eyes of Madridistas due to his success at the Bernabeu as a player.

There were concerns over Real Madrid’s Ronaldo replacement, which ultimately turned out to be Mariano, a former player who spent the last season at OL in France, scoring 18 goals in Ligue 1. However, there was little trust among the fans in his ability to be a consistent goal scorer.

When the season started, their problems under manager Lopetegui turned out to be much bigger than that.

A Horror Season

From the very beginning, something was not right at Real Madrid. Perhaps it was the weariness after winning so much under Zidane the previous three seasons. Or perhaps it was the post-Ronaldo blues many thoughts would affect them. Or maybe, in reality, Lopetegui got the challenge of managing the world’s biggest club a bit too early.

Real Madrid’s start to La Liga was disastrous, winning just four out of their first 10 fixtures. It also included an away loss to CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League, leaving the club board and fans furious.

A 5-1 defeat away from home to bitter rivals Barcelona proved to be the final straw, and Lopetegui was sacked.

“There is a great disproportion between the quality of the staff of Real Madrid and the results obtained to date,” a Real Madrid club statement read.

Lopetegui was replaced by Santiago Solari, who had spent the last six years as a youth coach for Real Madrid. But did this sacking do them any good? Or was Lopetegui simply a scapegoat caught at the wrong place at the wrong time?

In Comes Solari

As is often the case with interim managers, Solari’s start at Madrid was incredible. He steadied the ship, helped Los Blancos stabilize in La Liga, and started to close the gap, slowly but steadily, on Barcelona, who had been runaway leaders at one stage.

In the UEFA Champions League, Madrid topped their group and, barring a shock 3-0 defeat to Moscow at home, they were nearly flawless. Their UCL Round of 16 opponents? Ajax.

Solari made some key changes at Real and undertook bold decisions, one of which was to bench once-star players Isco and Marcelo. He replaced Isco with the young and exciting Vinicius Junior, adding much-needed pace down the wings, and replaced Marcelo with Sergio Reguilón, a promising player who later faltered in his career. Currently, Reguilón is at Tottenham in the Premier League, where he has made just three appearances so far this season.

It worked for a while. Madrid looked like a spirited team again—until everything fell apart. In the space of a week, all the progress Solari had made unraveled, and the trust between him and the fans broke once again.

The Collapse

Real Madrid entered the Copa del Rey semi-finals, were just six points behind Barcelona at one point in La Liga, and were in the UCL Round of 16. But then disaster struck.

First, in the Copa del Rey, Real Madrid lost 3-0 to Barcelona, crashing out of the tournament. Then, they lost again to the Catalan club 1-0 in La Liga, effectively ending their chances of winning the league. To rub salt into their wounds, Real Madrid, who had won 2-1 in the first leg away at Ajax, lost 4-1 in the second leg at home, exiting the Champions League.

What’s worse? All these defeats took place at the Bernabeu. Solari was on the brink of being sacked, and despite overseeing Madrid’s 4-1 victory over Valladolid the following weekend, Solari was dismissed. Back came Zinedine Zidane.

Was Lopetegui Really the Problem?

By the time Zidane returned, Real Madrid’s season was practically over. While fans were excited about Zidane’s return, they were largely indifferent to how Madrid finished the season, with average Bernabeu attendance in the remaining six home fixtures dropping to just 35,000.

Replacing Lopetegui had not helped in the end. Perhaps the poor start to the season could have been avoided had Zidane remained in charge, but it must be noted that Lopetegui inherited a team undergoing significant transition.

Blaming the now-former West Ham United manager entirely would be unfair. His appointment at Madrid, which began under challenging circumstances, could have been handled differently. Gaining more club-level experience before managing a team like Real Madrid might have helped.

Thankfully, Lopetegui redeemed himself in Spanish football, winning the UEFA Europa League title in 2020 with Sevilla.

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