Madrid (AFP) – Julen Lopetegui dismissed concerns that he is on the brink of being sacked as coach of Real Madrid as his team prepare for Sunday’s Clasico against a Barcelona side missing the injured Lionel Messi.
“I hope to still be breathing. I don’t think I am going to die,” Lopetegui replied at a press conference on Saturday to a question about what the future holds for him after the match at the Camp Nou.
“Everyone is 100 percent full of energy and my energies are 100 percent focused on helping the team.”
The 52-year-old is widely believed to be on borrowed time at the Santiago Bernabeu, just four months after his appointment as the successor to Zinedine Zidane.
The pressure is on Lopetegui after Real went on a run of five games without a win, losing four and scoring just one goal in that time.
The sequence was ended in a 2-1 victory against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League in midweek, but the unconvincing performance did little to suggest Lopetegui would stay much longer in the job.
A defeat at the Camp Nou — where Real have not lost on any of their last three visits — would see Madrid fall seven points behind the Catalans after just 10 games.
But the former Spain coach, who played for both Barcelona and Real, was not in the mood for answering constant questions on his future.
“I have 100 percent energy and I am not going to waste even 0.01 percent of that answering that question,” he replied to one journalist.
Barcelona will go clear at the summit with a victory, yet their coach Ernesto Valverde said that Real are “more dangerous when they are wounded”.
“They are now on a bad run, but they also have enough about them to overcome these things, just as we do with the absence of Messi,” added Valverde.
The Argentine is out after suffering a fractured arm against Sevilla last weekend.
However, Lopetegui disputed the comments from his opposite number, responding: “To say that is to assume that Real are hurt. We are only in October.”
“We have done good things which have not always translated into results. Real Madrid will be ready.”
Lopetegui is confident Marcelo will be able to take part after the Brazilian came off with a knock in midweek. Isco’s chances of starting the game are in doubt, however.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2So5Cob
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