Africa-Press – Gambia. Spanish La Liga side Villarreal on Friday sacked coach Jose Luis Rojo ‘Pacheta’ less than 24 hours after a 2-1 win against Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League.
Pacheta leaves Villarreal after just eight La Liga matches in charge and three in the Europa League. His predecessor Quique Setien had been sacked after just four games of the season.
The eight league games yielded just nine points and last weekend Villarreal lost 3-0 at home to Athletic Club Bilbao, who was 3-0 up after just 20 minutes.
The press speculated at the start of the week that Pacheta would be sacked before Thursday’s Europa League game, but the former Valladolid, Elche and Huesca boss clung on.
Although Villarreal beat Maccabi Haifa 2-1 in a game played behind closed doors in Cyprus, they failed to impress against a team that has not played for a month due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and only goals in the 81st and 85th minute turned the score around after falling behind in the first half.
Villarreal confirmed that Director of Football Miguel Angel Tena would be in charge for Sunday’s difficult La Liga visit to Atletico Madrid.
Marcelino Garcia Toral is the favorite to be named as Villarreal’s new coach in the near future in a move that would see him return to the club he led between 2013 and 2016.
That period saw Marcelino lead Villarreal to promote back to La Liga and three consecutive top-six finishes, although Marcelino’s first spell at Villarreal ended in controversy in 2016 after it lost the last game of the 2015-16 season to Sporting Gijon, a result which allowed Sporting (the club where Marcelino began his playing and coaching career) to avoid relegation.
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