A strange circumstance will occur in next weekend’s league game: Real Madrid meet a side, Celta de Vigo, whose coach previously coached the Whites. It is the case Rafael Benitez, who briefly occupied the local bench at the Santiago Bernaveu between 3 June 2015 and 4 January 2016 when he was sacked and replaced by Zinedine Zidane. From this period we remember the beginning of the Kroos, Modric and Casemiro dynasties and a stunning 4-0 victory for Barça in Chamartín.
But back to the actual topic, When Real Madrid play teams coached by technicians who previously sat on the bench at the Santiago Bernabéu, the white team has more often than not taken the plunge.
The first to suffer from this situation was the myth Miguel Munoz. The most successful manager in Real Madrid’s history, he coached the Whites between 1961 and 1974, faced his former team of Granada, Las Palmas and Sevilla between 1976 and 1980 and recorded just one win, six losses and six draws in the 13 games played .
The next was Fabio Capello. The Italian coach, who went through Chamartín in two stages (1996-1997 and 2006-2007), met Real Madrid six times and conceded three defeats, two wins and one draw, but eliminated the Whites with Juventus in the 2004 Champions League season -2005.
Bern Schuster He was the next to suffer the prophecy. He coached Real Madrid between 2007 and December 2008 before being sacked shortly before his visit to the Camp Nou after telling a press conference that it was impossible to beat Barça. He won a league and a Super Cup but failed to beat his former team with Málaga in the two ties of the 2013-2014 season.
Manuel Pellegrini He is the last coach who managed to beat Real Madrid, who he previously coached. Of course, he is the coach who has had the worst results against the Whites: 15 meetings with Malaga and Betis, winning one, losing nine and drawing five. The Chilean went through Chamartín in the 2009-2010 season and had a fraternal duel with Barça that was decided on the final day when the Whites lost at La Rosaleda and Azulgranas beat Valladolid at the Camp Nou, finishing the league with 99 and 96 points and 100 points respectively .
It was precisely in Malaga that Pellegrini got the only win, it was 3-2 Mourinho as Real Madrid manager when Casillas was first substituted.
The Portuguese only met his former team once. It was at the 2017 European Supercup in the Macedonian capital of Skopje. His Manchester United lost 2-1, with Isco and Casemiro scoring for the Whites and Lukaku for the Red Devils.
Julen Lopetegui He joined Real Madrid in 2018 after leaving the Spanish side two days before the start of the World Cup in Russia. He didn’t get to 150 days as a white coach and since then has played against Sevilla six times, ending in just one draw.
Finally the current technician Carlo Ancelotti Real Madrid faced Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the 2017 Champions League after sitting on the bench for the first time and going on to win their long-awaited tenth European Cup there. They lost 2-1 in the Bavarian city and lost 4-2 after extra time after the draw at the Bernabéu.
So that Rafa Benítez seems to be a complicated task this Friday. The Vigo people parted ways with Real Sociedad in San Sebastián with a 1-1 draw and will hope for their first three points of the season in the first game in Balaídos, a fact the Olívico club will capitalize on at the start centenary celebrations.