Luxemburgo safe for now, says Real's Butragueno
Real Madrid vice-president Emilio Butragueno says Vanderlei Luxemburgo's job as first team coach is not in immediate danger despite the humiliating 3-0 defeat by arch-rivals Barcelona.
Real Madrid vice-president Emilio Butragueno says Vanderlei Luxemburgo's job as first team coach is not in immediate danger despite the humiliating 3-0 defeat by arch-rivals Barcelona.
The former Real Madrid striker stopped short of giving the Brazilian a full vote of confidence.
"The world of football is unpredictable and if you ask me about his job it is the same as if you ask me about mine," Butragueno was quoted as saying in sports daily Marca on Monday.
"Luxemburgo can sleep soundly about his future as far as the next game goes. You can't judge the ability of a coach on just one match."
Butragueno said Barcelona had fully deserved their emphatic victory at the Bernabeu, but said Real had been hampered by the fact that leading players like Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane had just returned from injury.
"It was one of the best Barcelona sides I have seen, but it is also true that we were not on form either. From the start they adopted a very offensive game plan, playing with three dynamic and talented forwards."
"We went into the game very stretched. We knew we had some injured players and that they had been out of action for a number of weeks and that took its toll in the end."
Barca outclassed Real throughout Saturday's game and could have won even more handsomely had it not been for some fine goalkeeping from Iker Casillas.
Former Real Madrid player Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring with an electrifying strike on 15 minutes and the brilliant Ronaldinho finally put the home side to the sword with two virtuoso solo efforts in the second half.
The worrying thing for Luxemburgo, who took charge of Real at the start of the year, is that his side now host Olympique Lyon in the Champions League, a team who are unbeaten in both Ligue 1 and Europe.
Olympique crushed Real 3-0 when the two sides met in Lyon in the opening match in Group F and the Spaniards would have to equal that result on Wednesday if they are to have a chance of displacing their opponents to claim first place.