Flores out as Valencia coach after Sevilla loss
“I hope that what has happened ends up being positive for Valencia,” Flores told a news conference.
Valencia, Spain - Valencia fired head coach Quique Sanchez Flores early Monday morning after the club’s 3-0 defeat against Sevilla on Sunday.
The team said that reserve team manager Oscar Fernandez will take over for Flores on an interim basis.
The firing comes after a poor spell of play that saw the team drop four of its last five games in all competitions.
Valencia is currently tied with Schalke in third place in Group B of the Champions League after it’s surprising 2-0 loss to Norwegian club Rosenborg last week. The team has now lost its last two games in Champions League play, but is still just one point out of second place.
The team has suffered a similar slip in league play as well as the club has lost two of its last three games after a five-game winning streak, but is still just four points out of first place.
“It wasn’t an easy decision that was taken just because of one bad result,” club president Juan Soler said at a news conference on Monday. “It was a carefully thought-out decision taken after an intensive analysis by the technical staff so that we can achieve our aim of becoming one of the top teams in Europe.”
After taking over as club president at Valencia three years ago, Soler has now fired three different managers and will now begin the search for his fourth. Among the reported candidates are former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, World-Cup winning coach of Italy Marcello Lippi and the head coach of Portugal’s national team Luiz Felipe Scolari.
“I hope that what has happened ends up being positive for Valencia,” Flores told a news conference. “I leave the club with some degree of pain but also with some relief. They have been difficult and often lonely years. I may have lost my job but I feel that I have recovered my life which, for me, is the most important thing.”
Fernandez will face quite a first game for Valencia, which is back in action on Wednesday against league-leaders Real Madrid.
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