Dani Carvajal Showers Julen Lopetegui With Surprising Praise Following Real Madrid Dismissal

Real Madrid full-back Dani Carvajal has declared Julen Lopetegui as the best coach he has ever worked under.

Lopetegui was fired just four months into his Madrid tenure, with the 5-1 defeat to Barcelona driving the final nail into the coffin.

Los Blancos have replaced Lopetegui with Castilla boss Santiago Solari in the interim, and the manager oversaw a win in his first game in charge on the weekend, with his side beating Valladolid 2-0 at home.

Carvajal, meanwhile, has revealed that Lopetegui stands above any other coach he has ever worked with.

​“For me, he’s been the best coach I’ve ever had,” the player said in an interview on TVE (h/t Marca). “Unfortunately, he’s lacked the bit of luck he needs to stay with us.

“His way of seeing football, his way of managing the group, of being with the players, is something I share, he said it before Real Madrid arrived, I keep saying now that he has left and I will do it while I do not have to another technician who does it better than him.

“We’re not going through our best, but the Madrid always comes back. Last year criticised us on all sides and we ended up taking the Champions League.”

This is certainly high praise from the Spanish full-back, who has worked under the likes of Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez and Zinedine at Madrid. He also played under Vicente del Bosque in the Spain set-up.

All of the aforementioned have won league titles and the Champions League, with Del Bosque winning both the World Cup and the Euros. But Carvajal has insisted that Lopetegui is the best he has worked with.

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