Real Madrid confirm Julen Lopetegui sacking after just 14 games and put Santiago Solari

Real Madrid announced on Monday that they have sacked coach Julen Lopetegui and put Santiago Solari in temporary charge.

Solari is coach of the club’s B-team “Real Madrid Castilla” and will lead the first team into their Copa del Rey first leg match away to Melilla on Wednesday.

Lopetegui was presented as Real Madrid’s new coach on June 14 last summer. He was in tears as he described it as the “happiest day” of his life.

But after just 14 games in the job the 52-year-old has only won six matches and leaves with the team in ninth place in La Liga, closer to relegation than to the top.

A club statement read: "The board believes there is a big difference between the quality of a Madrid squad that includes eight Balon d'Or nominees and the results obtained by the team to date."

The dismissal completes a miserable four and half months for Lopetegui. He was sacked by Spain on the eve of the World Cup finals after announcing he was joining Real Madrid after the tournament. 

He made his teary goodbyes from the team’s World Cup base in Krasnodar and flew home via Moscow to be presented as Madrid's new coach. 

But despite making a good start things began to fall apart as the team played over eight hours of football without scoring a goal.

The 5-1 defeat away to Barcelona on Sunday at the Camp Nou made it just one point from the last five matches and although he took the Monday morning training session his fate was sealed.

The club will continue to look for a permanent long-term successor with the former Chelsea, Juventus and Italy coach Antonio Conte and the current Belgium coach Roberto Martinez both rumoured by Spanish media to be under consideration.