Real line up Rafa to replace ailing Pellegrini
LIVERPOOL boss Rafael Benitez is being lined up as Real Madrid’s new manager after the Spanish giants gave under-fire Manuel Pellegrini just two games to save his job.
Big-spending Real have won just one of their last five games and suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat to third division side Alcorcon in the Copa del Rey on Tuesday night.
Unhappy president Florentino Perez was believed to have considered sacking Pellegrini there and then, but has since decided to give the Chilean two more games to turn things around – a league tie against Getafe on Saturday and at AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Secretly though, Perez has drawn up a list of possible successors to Pellgrini with Liverpool boss Benitez his No1 choice.
Benitez held various coaching roles with Real in the 1990s and would relish the opportunity to return to his hometown club, especially in the wake of boardoom wrangling at Anfield.
He has become increasingly frustrated by the failure of the club’s owners to back him in the transfer market, whereas Perez splashed out £225m on stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso this summer.