Schuster sacked by Real Madrid?

According to Spanish daily AS, Real Madrid have decided to part ways with German boss Bernd Schuster. Apparently, president Roman Calderon has had enough of the disappointing form and Schuster's decision to give two days off to his players. However, other media outlets are suggesting that Schuster has simply asked for a break.

Schuster's reign in Spain has come to an abrupt end after there were reports that the boss had lost the confidence of his own men.

Madrid captain Raul refused these rumours though: "This is a bad run of results but we have the quality. We have to be united, we have to stay together and dig in. We realise we have a problem and we are all working hard to solve it."

It seems that the defeat to Real Valladolid was the final straw for Schuster, who said after the game: "We were unlucky. It's very disappointing to lose a match we didn't think we would lose.

"The teams work hard to do things right. We made a few changes because we were missing a player.

"They never created any scoring opportunities other than their goal. That's what matters; not suffering defensively. We had chances to score a goal or two, but our hard work bore no fruit."

It is understood that Roberto Mancini and Victor Fernandez are among some of the managers linked with the role.