There was a lot of expectation in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. It wasn’t another unveiling, but the former Spanish national coach had to speak in front of the journalist after his departure from Russia. Despite the facts, Julen Lopetegui was so happy after signing a three year deal with Real Madrid.
“Since my mother’s death, yesterday was the saddest day in my life, but today is the happiest day in my life”, Lopetegui said in his introduction, close to Florentino Pérez. The manager remembered the time spent at Real Madrid: “When I arrived here when I was 18 dressed in the army way I was lucky enough to be Castilla’s player, then the first team and learn the values, the loyalty. I was lucky to train Castilla and now Real Madrid. It’s a completed circle. I’m very happy”, Lopetegui commented.
Obviously, many journalists asked about his controversy with Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), who sacked yesterday Lopetegui for signing a contract with Real Madrid only two days prior to the Spanish debut in the World Cup. “I would have liked that Rubiales would have acted in another way”. “Loyalty is telling the truth. The moment there was something to say, the first one to know it’s him”.
Then, Lopetegui explained how everything happened: “I wanted to announce a press conference that day but I had to wait because he [Rubiales] was far away. The agreement had to be closed fast, not during the World Cup. I don’t know what happened during these hours. The reason to bring it up was being transparent. I didn’t want anything to hide. The players knew and there weren’t any problems, they trained great”, the brand new Real Madrid manager said. .
He didn’t say many things about his new era at Real Madrid, but he’s now fully focus on the project: “From tomorrow on, we will be working at Valdebebas. No matter what happen, we will have the best team”, Lopetegui finished.
