As the Marca editorial (In Spanish) makes it clear, Real’s goal is nothing less than the CL final.
Their assessment of Manuel Pellegrini is scathing. He is pulled up for not letting Real impose their own terms but playing according to the pace dictated by the opposition. The introduction of Lassana Diarra was also controversial, as it threw the attack off rhythm.
“Both assumptions lead to the conclusion that, six months later, the manager has no plans for Madrid.”
It is one thing for the media to jump at Pellegrini faulting him for not delivering, it is another when Fiorentino Perez right hand man, Jorge Valdano minces no words, “”We leave with a bad result and a bad feeling.”
Pelligrini needs to devise his own exit strategy. He was skating on thin ice when the club lost to Alcorcon. To be fair, the club was never kind to even winning mangers and in Perez’s second era, the weight of the financial millstone would sink even the most accomplished of them.