Luxemburgo, the new saviour

Madrid: Real Madrid named former Brazil manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo as new coach Thursday in a bid to re-ignite their fading league campaign.

?Real Madrid?s board has unanimously approved the proposal of the sports management team to appoint Vanderlei Luxemburgo as new coach,? vice-president Emilio Butragueno told a news conference.

?It?s not been an easy decision for us but... we think it is the best decision right now for Real Madrid,? he said.

Luxemburgo, who has just coached Santos to the Brazilian championship, becomes Real?s third coach this season, replacing Mariano Garcia Remon.

Brazilian media quoted Santos Vice President Norberto Moreira da Silva as saying: ?He (Luxemburgo) told us he had an offer he could not refuse and asked to be freed from his commitment to Santos. It was his dream so we thought it best to let him go.?

The arrival of Luxemburgo, after short spells at the helm by Garcia Remon and Jose Antonio Camacho, underlines Real Madrid?s hunger for success and its impatience with any coach that does not bring them top honours.

Real are the most successful club in history of European football with a record nine European Cups and 29 domestic league titles.

But they ended last season fourth in the Primera Liga and have slipped to fifth this season, 13 points behind pace-setters and arch rivals Barcelona.

Luxemburgo has an excellent track record, having won the Brazilian championship a record five times with four different clubs: Palmeiras in 1993 and 1994, Corinthians in 1998, Cruzeiro in 2003 and Santos this year.

He took over Santos in May this year after being fired by Cruzeiro in February following a clash with directors.

He was Brazil coach from 1998 to 2000, winning the Copa America in 1999 but was fired following the Sydney Olympics after poor results.

Shortly afterwards, the Brazilian Congress launched an investigation into financial problems in Brazilian football and Luxemburgo was publicly grilled over his tax returns.

He also admitted to police that he had used a fake birth certificate throughout his career which made him three years younger than he really was.

Garcia Remon, Real Madrid coach for just three months, has been under heavy pressure after the star-studded team?s recent poor performances.

He was named Real Madrid coach in September when Jose Antonio Camacho resigned four months after taking up the post, saying he felt incapable of getting the most out of the club?s expensively assembled squad.

His predecessor, Carlos Queiroz, lasted less than a year. Real Madrid, whose roster of star players includes Ronaldo, Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Figo, David Beckham and Michael Owen, closed a miserable year with a 0-1 defeat at home to Sevilla last week. (Reuters)