A ‘clear favourite has emerged’
Real Madrid are on the brink of appointing their next first team manager, according to a breaking news report from Sky Sports.
Los Blancos are heavily expected to part company with interim head coach Alvero Arbeola when his contract expires this summer.
Since taking over from Xabi Alonso in January, the retired defender has overseen a subpar few months in which Madrid’s chances of challenging Barcelona for the La Liga title declined.
That decline in form reached a climax on Sunday evening.
Barcelona comfortably brushed Arbeloa’s team aside in a 2-0 victory that wrapped up this season’s league title for La Blaugrana.
Now, less than 24hrs after the full-time whistle, Real Madrid seem to have made their choice on appointing a new manager.
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According to Sky Sports, the next Real Madrid manager is almost certain to be Jose Mourinho.
Spending three seasons with the Galacticos between 2010 and 2013, he guided the club to Copa del Rey and La Liga glory, in a period where Barcelona were renowned as legendary.
Coaching Portuguese outlet Benfica this season, Mourinho may have failed to secure the Liga NOS title, but he has done so while maintaining an unbeaten record throughout the entire league campaign.
Mourinho’s path has crossed with Real Madrid twice already this season, in two separate rounds of the Champions League.
In the most memorable moment of the UCL campaign so far, Benfica infamously sent Real Madrid back into the tournament’s play-off spaces thanks to this incredible 98th minute diving header from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
The play-off draw then saw Benfica and Real Madrid face each other for a spot in the tournament’s formal knockout.
This tie also captured worldwide attention, after an alleged incident of verbal abuse from Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni towards Vinicius Jr overshadowed the first leg.
Real Madrid ultimately won the tie over the two legs, and Prestianni was subsequently suspended by UEFA for the incident.
Mourinho came under some criticism — including from Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany — for his defence of Prestianni.
At the time of the game, Mourinho told Amazon Prime: “I told [Vinicius Jnr], when you score a goal like that you just celebrate and walk back. They [Vinicius Jr and Prestianni] told me different things. But I don’t believe in one or another. I want to be an independent.
“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person [Eusebio] in the history of this club was black.
“This club, the last thing that it is, is racist.”
And in response to these comments, Vincent Kompany had made the following criticism: “For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake and it’s something that we should not accept.”
It must also be noted that back in March, Mourinho readdressed the incident, and said he was: “completely, utterly opposed to any kind of discrimination or prejudice or ignorance or stupidity,” as quoted by Sky Sports.
He added: “If my player did not respect these principles, which are mine and Benfica’s as well, then that player’s career with a coach named Jose Mourinho and at a club named Benfica will come to an end.
“I am not a scholar, but I am not ignorant either. The presumption of innocence is a human right, isn’t it?
“I stand by my opinion. If the player is indeed guilty, I will never look at him the way I looked at him before, and with me, it’s over.
“But I have to put many ‘ifs’ in front of it.”
Regardless of the dispute over Prestianni’s actions during the play-off game, it appears as though there has been no impact upon Mourinho’s relationship with the Bernabeu hierarchy.
The Portuguese head coach has always maintained an excellent bond with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, and it seems on that basis that he has emerged as frontrunner for the role.
It now remains to be seen how discussions between Mourinho and the Spanish giants progress between now and the end of the season.
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