Vanderlei Luxemburgo was appointed as Real Madrid coach in January 2004 and then was sacked in December 2005 after failing to win La Liga title. The Brazilian has now spoken with Fox Sports in his country and he has explained why he was fired by Florentino Pérez.
According to the coach, who has been now sacked from the Chinese club Tianjin Songgjiang, he lost his job at Real Madrid for changing Ronaldo Nazario: “I was doing a good job, the tendency was to continue, but Florentino sacked me after a game against Getafe, where we won 1-0. In the game, Beckham saw the red card in the first half. And in the minute 43 in the second half, I changed Ronaldo Nazario. In Madrid they don’t jeer but they show white handkerchiefs when they don’t like something because they want a show. And I wanted to win the game. The president was annoyed because this is uncomfortable for him. I called me and told me: ‘Coach, ¿why did you substitute Ronaldo? And I said: I changed him because the game was over and we wanted to win, and we were playing with 10 footballers. He replied: Bu here you can’t do that, you need a show, supporters want a show”, Luzemburgo explained in the TV show ‘Aquí com Benja’.
The Brazilian coach explained how the conversation ended: “I replied: Mr, President, let me tell you something. I came here to work, win games and beat Barcelona. I didn’t come here fo ask for a job, you came to Brazil to hire me. If you’re not happy, in the same way you hire me, you send me far away”, Luxemburgo said. Obviously, Florentino sacked him.
The Brazilian coach regrets his behaviour: “Today I wouldn’t do it. But the way he approached me… no one could approach in this was the coach or a player when the adrenaline is still running”.
After his time at Real Madrid, Luxemburgo has worked in Atlético Mineiro, Flamengo, Gremio, Fluminense and Cruzeiro in his country. He has also trained in China with Tianjin Songgjiang. He was famous at Real Madrid for his formation the “magic square”, with four midfielder forming a square. It didn’t give any success to Real Madrid.
