Sanchez: Rainstorm helped lead to sacking

(GSM) – Hugo Sanchez has claimed that a freak rainstorm during Almeria’s 4-1 home defeat by Athletic Bilbao helped seal his fate as he was relieved of his coaching duties from the Spanish strugglers.

The Mexican goalscoring legend was sacked as Almeria coach after Sunday’s 2-0 loss at Espanyol in La Liga.

“I had bad luck,” Sanchez told sports newspaper Marca.

“For example, it never rains here and the day of the Athletic match it was bucketing down.

“They put three past us from set-pieces and we lost badly.”

Former Mexico manager Sanchez may have a point as the average rainfall in the Andalucian city is only 184mm (seven inches).

The province of Almeria is so dry that it has served as the location for numerous spaghetti westerns.

The 51-year-old Sanchez – who scored over 500 goals in his illustrious career, including 164 for Real Madrid – had been in charge at Almeria since December 2008.

The club are currently 17th in La Liga, one point above the relegation zone.