By Dermot CorriganReal Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui goes into this evening’s first La Liga derbi of the season with Bernabéu fans and pundits still unsure if the former Spain coach is really up to the job. “I’m happy with the team so far, knowing that over a season there will be better and worse moments,” Lopetegui claimed yesterday. The Spanish capital’s supposed poorer neighbours also have three wins and two draws from their last five La Liga visits to the Bernabéu. The Argentine has already inflicted a defeat on Lopetegui in August’s Uefa Supercup ‘derbi’, and his team are experts at locating and exploiting their opponents’ weakness. Being second-rate in their own city is not a situation which Madrid club president Florentino Perez will tolerate for too long.

Source: Irish Examiner September 29, 2018 04:52 UTC