LaLiga: Real Madrid sack Julen Lopetegui

Real Madrid have finally decided to sack head coach Julen Lopetegui after a terrible start to the season. The Spanish coach replaced Zinedine Zidane at Santiago Bernabeu last summer but was unable to keep the job for more than four and a half moths, the club decided to fire him after a 5-1 defeat to rivals Barcelona in the "Clasico" derby on Sunday. That was their fifth defeat in the last six games, a terrible streak for a club like Real Madrid. The Blancos have won the last three editions of the Champions League but now find themselves ninth in LaLiga after their worst season start since 2001. Former Real Madrid player Santiago Solari will take charge on an interim basis, he was previously coaching the club's B team. Lopetegui did get to hold a training session on Monday, but a board meeting later in the day decided his fate. The club issued a statement following that meeting saying that "there is a great disproportion between the quality of the staff of Real Madrid and the results obtained to date". In fact, Real Madrid have the most players included in the shortlist for the Ballon d'Or this year, no less than eight of their players are in the list that includes thirty names. Real Madrid's next match is an easy one as they prepare to face third-tier side Melilla in the Copa del Rey, but then they play sixth-placed Valladollid in LaLiga on Saturday and Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League next week. This is the second time Julen Lopetegui gets sacked this year as he got fired by the Spanish FA just two days before the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Lopetegui was the head coach of the Spanish national team, but he decided to accept the job offer from Real Madrid without notifying the FA, and that led to his immediate sacking. Interim coach Santiago Solari is the favourite to get the job on a permanent basis, he is 8/15 at SkyBet to be appointed as permanent manager, while former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is 11/4 to get the job.