Spanish media turn on Pellegrini after Cup flop

Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini must pay for Tuesday’s Spanish Cup humiliation dished out by third division Alcorcon with his job, sports daily Marca claimed.

“Leave now” was the paper’s headline on Wednesday alongside a photograph of the Chilean following the embarrassing 4-0 rout at Alcorcon’s modest 3,000-capacity ground.

For Marca: “The Chilean coach doesn’t have the ideas to carry the club forward this season and Madrid’s style of play scarcely reflects the enormous investment laid out, the biggest in the history of football.”

It added: “Pellegrini personifies ridicule…he can’t remain ten seconds longer.”

Another Spanish paper, As, qualified Tuesday’s Cup hijack by Real’s city neighbours as the “ridicule of the century”.

The Cope del Rey last 32 first leg defeat, inflicted by a club whose annual budget of 1.2 million euros is 300 times smaller than Real’s, came on the back of last weekend’s goalless draw with Sporting Gijon and defeat to AC Milan in the Champions League.

“One more defeat will cost Pellegrini his job,” As claimed, which like Marca identified Jorge Valdano, currently Real Madrid’s sporting director, as the man most likely to step in to replace him.

“Real Madrid haven’t produced one entire decent match since the beginning of the season,” it added.

Pellegrini for his part described the Alcorcon defeat as “a disgrace” but refused to contemplate resigning “neither today, tomorrow or after tomorrow”.

Real are next in action against Getafe in the league on Saturday and AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.