Julen Lopetegui had plans to lead Spain in the World Cup and then take over Real Madrid from Zinedine Zidane. Unfortunately for him, the plans did not go as expected and the Spanish federation decided to sack the boss two days prior to their first match against Portugal. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez spoke about the situation at the press conference: "We still have difficulty understanding what happened and why this agreement disturbed Spain's World Cup moment. It hasn't influenced the World Cup at all, there isn't a good reason why tomorrow Lopetegui won't be on the Spanish bench.
What happened is a normal occurrence, and it transformed into a question of honor: The Spanish federation's decision is unjust. There are many cases of managers signing before the World Cup, but in no case is there Real Madrid. We have to work to defend against those who want to hurt our image.
Never before has a routine thing been considered sneaky, we reached an agreement in little time and decided to announce it in order to be transparent. I know it is a bittersweet moment for Lopetegui, he wanted to win the World Cup with Spain and then manage Real Madrid."
New manager Julen Lopetegui then followed and spoke about the situation himself: "Yesterday was the saddest day of my life, and today is the happiest. I will work to keep this club at the top and to improve it, I feel ready to do this and to win everything.
Tomorrow I will cheer the team on as a Spaniard, I am sure they will have a great World Cup. I have always been honest, I wanted to have a press conference but it wasn't possible. The agreements must be reached before the World Cup, not during. I told them and was always honest, the players understood. Rubiales wanted to do things differently. I know that I am a faithful person, I learned it even at Real Madrid. Yesterday was a surreal day, the most beautiful thing was the affection of the players. We fought hard for the World Cup and at the last minute they left me out. These players have a great objective and they arrive there ready to win , hopefully there is a bit of good luck that is necessary."
