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Real Madrid sack coach Luxemburgo
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-05 08:58
MADRID, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo was sacked
on Sunday just over 11 months after taking charge of the nine-times European
champions.
Vanderlei
Luxemburgo from Brazil is seen leaving the training ground after his last
and final training in Madrid, Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005.
[Reuters] | The 53-year-old Brazilian, who was
Real's fifth coach in the space of two and a half years, was dismissed following
an emergency board meeting at the club's Bernabeu stadium.
"The Real Madrid board has decided that Vanderlei Luxemburgo will not
continue as coach of the first team," club vice-president Emilio Butragueno told
a news conference.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but the board considered that we had reached a
point where we needed a change.
"The team were not living up to expectations and that worried both us and the
fans and that was the fundamental reason for our decision, which was unanimous."
The announcement came a day after Real's lacklustre 1-0 win at home to
Getafe, but the detonating factor was a humiliating 3-0 home defeat by
arch-rivals Barcelona two weeks ago.
Butragueno said Luxemburgo's four Brazilian assistants would also be
dismissed and that reserve team coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro would take over on a
caretaker basis.
DEFINITIVE REPLACEMENT
He added that a decision on a definitive replacement would be made in the
next few weeks.
Juventus boss Fabio Capello, who led Real to the league title in 1997, former
Celta Vigo and Porto coach Victor Fernandez, England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson
and Liverpool's Rafael Benitez have all been mooted as possible long-term
replacements for Luxemburgo.
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