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MADRID, Oct. 29-- Real Madrid sacked coach Julen Lopetegui on Monday night following a poor start to the season, the club confirmed in a press release. The former Spain national team boss lost his job just over 24 hours after his side suffered a 5-1 humiliation to FC Barcelona in the Camp Nou Stadium to continue the poor run of results over the past month. Sunday was Real Madrid's fourth defeat in 5 Liga Santander games and they currently lie in ninth place in the Spanish domestic league with 14 points from 10 matches. Taking Champions League matches into account, Real Madrid have lost five of their last 7 games in all competitions and although last Tuesday they beat Viktoria Plzen 2-1 in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, they were booed off the pitch after conceding a late goal and holding on for the final whistle. The press release highlights what the club considers to be "a great disproportion between the quality of the squad which has 8 players nominated for the next Balon D'Or... and the results obtained to this date." The Club's Head of Institutional Relations, Emilio Butragueno, was quick to support Lopetegui on Tuesday, but tellingly failed to back the coach following Sunday's defeat and Lopetegui's sacking was confirmed following a 7pm meeting of the Real Madrid Board of Directors. Lopetegui had been in charge at Real Madrid for just over 4 months after accepting the offer to coach the club just three days before Spain's opening game at the 2018 World Cup finals. | 
