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With the confirmation of Julen Lopetegui as the new Real Madrid manager, the dust finally settles after months of speculation regarding the contenders for the top job at the Bernabeu. The post had been recently vacated by club legend Zinedine Zidane after he led his side to a third successive Champions League title.
The decision to appoint Lopetegui came completely out of the blue, with the Spanish media and Real Madrid fans touting Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino to take over the reins from Zidane.
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Lopetegui is an inexperienced manager at club level, boasting an underwhelming 2-year spell at Porto between 2014-2016, after which he was sacked. Since then Lopetegui has taken over the reins of the Spanish National team, where he has done quite well.
A former goalkeeper himself, Lopetegui has managed the atmosphere of the dressing room well, whilst also having created a cohesive unit with the right balance of youth and experience. This bodes well for the new Real Madrid manager as a huge task of managing the biggest egos at the best club awaits.
As a result, we look ahead to some interesting facts about the Spaniard:
#5 He has represented both Real Madrid & Barcelona
Having started his professional career at Real Sociedad, Lopetegui, a goalkeeper by trade joined Real Madrid Castilla as a 19-year old. After spending three years at Real Madrid’s B-team, Lopetegui joined Las Palmas on loan in search of regular playing time.
Once Lopetegui returned from his loan spell, he could not displace Spanish goalkeeper Francisco Buyo, managing a solitary appearance for the club in his two years. After a three-year spell at Spanish club Logrones, Lopetegui joined Barcelona in 1994 as a replacement for club legend Andoni Zubizarreta.
Again, he found himself down in the pecking order, this time to Zubizaretta’s longtime understudy, Carles Busquets. The 1-cap Spanish International managed only 5 appearances for the Catalonian team in his three seasons with the club.
Although Lopetegui played for both Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona, he was never up to the standards required for playing at these great clubs.
#4 Spanish Revolution at Estadio do Dragao
Lopetegui’s first major managerial role came at Porto. His spell in Portugal wouldn’t inspire most Real Madrid fans, as the club equalized its biggest defeat in European competitions, a comprehensive 6-1 loss to Bayern Munich. Surprisingly, the club did not manage to win a single domestic honour during Lopetegui’s season and a half at Estadio do Dragao.
Perhaps less surprising was the nationality of his signings. Lopetegui brought in seven Spanish players in his first transfer window alone, including the likes of Adrian, Oliver Torres (both from Atletico Madrid) and Christian Tello (Barcelona) as well as securing the services of Casemiro on loan from Real Madrid.
In the following season, the Spanish manager surprised the fans by bringing in Spain and Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas to Estadio do Dragao.
His transfer record at Porto was pretty average, although he brought in and developed youngsters like Brahimi and Casemiro, the latter in particular has gone on to become a vital cog in an all-conquering Real Madrid team.
#3 Double European Winner
Despite, Lopetegui’s below-par club record, he has forged a good reputation internationally. The current Spain manager coached the Spanish youth teams between 2010-2014, winning the European championships with the under-19s as well as the under-21s in successive years.
His teams played breath-taking football as they impressed everyone on their way to becoming champions. The likes of David De Gea, Saul Niguez, Koke, Isco and Thiago, who all starred at these youth tournaments form the spine of the current national team which starts as huge tournament favourites.
Familiarity and success with the Spanish youngsters might have played a huge role in Lopetegui getting a shot at managing the Senior Spanish side.
#2 He once fainted on National Television
After hanging up his boots in 2002, Lopetegui worked as a part-time analyst for Spanish television broadcaster LaSexta during the 2006 World Cup held in Germany.
In a program headlined “Sport Center”, presented by Patxi Alonso, Lopetegui begins analysing the matches. After some time, as can be seen in the video above, Lopetegui flutters his eyes a couple of times, when suddenly words stop coming out of his mouth and he collapses before the camera.
This results in Alonso quickly rushing towards the stage and announcing a commercial break, but not before joking:” Do you not want surprises?”.
The video soon became viral but the Real Madrid supporters will hope that the former goalkeeper doesn’t repeat the same trick at the Bernabeu.
#1 The new Real Madrid boss is a Messi fan
This might ring alarm bells in the ears of some Real Madrid supporters, but they need not be worried as this does not make Cristiano Ronaldo a lesser player.
In November of 2016, Lopetegui openly revealed that he had voted for Lionel Messi over Cristiano Ronaldo for the Ballon d’Or. He said:
“I’ve never met a player like Leo Messi. I don’t like to compare eras, but I’ve never seen and nor do I think I will ever see someone with Messi’s consistency.”
Then in a recent interview with ’20 Minutos’, Lopetegui reiterated his praise for Messi by saying:
"He's made the difference in so many ways over a continuous period of time" and that it's "a joy to watch him play".
These comments would not affect a thorough professional that Ronaldo is, but with his Real Madrid future uncertain, it's very much possible that he might never play for Lopetegui at all.
As for Messi, with Lopetegui taking up the reins at the Bernabeu, he would surely be plotting ways to stop the little magician as both would certainly get to see a lot of each other in the coming future.
