Julen Lopetegui's father blasts Real Madrid for selling Cristiano Ronaldo: ‘They stole 50 goals from my son’

The European champions let the reigning Ballon d'Or winner leave for Juventus last summer

Julen Lopetegui’s father has blasted Real Madrid for their decision to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus and not replace him last summer as the European champions prepare to sack the former Spain coach.

A humiliating 5-1 defeat to rivals Barcelona in the first Clasico of the season at Camp Nou on Sunday has sealed Lopetegui’s fate, with the Madrid board meeting on Monday to confirm his dismissal and former Chelsea coach Antonio Conte reportedly poised to replace him at Santiago Bernabeu.

Madrid lie ninth in La Liga having won just four of their first 10 matches and scored only 14 goals, as Lopetegui struggled to re-configure the European champions’ attack in the wake of Ronaldo’s departure for Turin.

And in an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Lopetegui’s father Jose Antonio insisted that Madrid set his son up to fail this season by not signing another elite attacker last summer to fill the Ronaldo void.

“Cristiano Ronaldo was good,” Jose Antonio said. “Was he cocky? We all have defects, but it turns out he scored 50 goals a season. He is missing. You are missing a prominent goalscorer. They haven't brought one, not a single one.

Real Madrid have lost four of their last five games under Lopetegui (Getty)

“There was talk of Neymar and others, but no one came. They have stolen 50 goals from my son. He has to settle with what he has and don't get me wrong, he is delighted with the players he has.

“He usually says: ‘I have great people, they give everything they've got.’ He doesn't blame the players. But when there is no material, there isn't. There was but he left.”

Being sacked by Madrid will cap a miserable few months for Lopetegui, who was spectacularly dismissed as Spain coach on the eve of the World Cup when it emerged that he had accepted an offer from the European champions without first informing Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales that talks had taken place.

He was unveiled as Madrid’s new coach at the Bernabeu a day later, saying: “Yesterday was the saddest day of my life, but today is the happiest.”