Real Madrid have confirmed that they have fired their manager Carlo Ancelotti following a disappointing trophyless campaign.
Ancelotti, who quit Paris Saint-Germain to take charge of Real Madrid after Jose Mourinho resigned after the 2012/13 season, found a lot of success during his first season at the Bernabeu, helping the Los Blancos win the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League.
However, Real Madrid have failed to win any trophies this season, exiting the Copa Del Rey after their defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid in the round of sixteen, getting knocked out of the semi-finals of the Champions League at the hands of Juventus and getting pipped to the La Liga title by Barcelona.
And Real Madrid president Forentino Pérez has confirmed that Ancelotti has been sacked as the Los Blancos first team manger.
"The Board of Directors have made the decision to relieve Carlo Ancelotti of his duties as Real Madrid coach," the Spaniard told Real Madrid's official website.
"This has been a difficult decision as you can all imagine, especially for the Board of Directors, but like I always say we are not here, at Real Madrid, to make easy decisions, but to make those that are best for this institution which is recognised globally"
Despite claiming that Ancelotti has "earned the affection" of everyone at the club including himsel, Perez claims that this decision was taken due to the former Chelsea boss failing to meet the high demands at Real Madrid.
"During these two years Carlo Ancelotti has earned the affection of the Board of Directors, of me personally and of the supporters," added Perez.
"He forms part of our history as the coach with whom we won la Décima, but as we all know, the demands are huge at Real Madrid and we believe the time has come for a change of direction that will allow us to win more titles and reach our peak competitive level ahead of a new era".
With Napoli's Rafa Benitez and Zenit Saint-Petersburg's Andre Villas-Boas being tipped to succeed Ancelotti, Perez went on to reveal that the club will be unveiling the new Real Madrid manager by next week.
"We would also like to announce that we will be revealing the name of the next Real Madrid coach next week."
