Real sports director to be fired – reports

Real Madrid sports chief Pedja Mijatovic is close to being fired following the Spanish giants humiliating 4-0 Champions League defeat at Liverpool in Tuesday, sports daily Marca reported Wednesday.

After the “painful loss to Liverpool”, the departure of the top club official before Real’s next general assembly at the end of March is more likely and could be announced very soon, the newspaper added.

The only sticking point is the fact that Mijatovic, who took up the post in 2006 and is under contract until 2010, would qualify for a compensation payment of one million euros (1.3 million dollars) if he is fired, it said.

But the interim president of the defending Spanish champions, Vicente Boluda, “is looking for a formula which will allow the dismissal to be cheaper”, the newspaper said.

Mijatovic, a former Real striker who was one of Yugoslavia’s best players of the 1990s, has been criticised for failing to recruit top talent.

Liverpool, which already had a 1-0 win over nine-time European champions Real from the away leg, reached the last eight with a 5-0 aggregate victory.

Spanish media on Wednesday dubbed Real’s loss to Liverpool, its heaviest defeat since the competition became known as the Champions League in 1993, as a “humiliation” and said the club was “leaking water everywhere”.