Montevideo
The Peñarol has sacked its coach, former footballer Diego Forlán, on Monday due to the team's poor results in the Apertura Tournament, as reported by the local press.
According to the information released, the club president, Jorge Barrera, informed Forlán that he is no longer the coach of Peñarol, his first experience leading a team as a coach after being the best player of the 2010 World Cup.
According to the Ovación newspaper in Montevideo, the board has already decided that the new coach of Peñarol will be Mario Saralegui. This is a decision that Barrera had wanted to make before, but he never could because he did not find support among his peers in the Board of Directors.
Under his leadership, Peñarol played nine official matches in the local tournament, with three wins, three draws, and three losses, placing them in seventh position in the standings with twelve points, seven less than the leader, Montevideo Wanderers, who precisely defeated them 2-0 last Sunday.
In addition, in the Copa Libertadores, they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Brazilian team Athletico Paranaense and recorded a victory by the same scoreline against Jorge Wilstermann from Bolivia.
According to sources from the club confirmed to Efe, the Board of Directors will meet on Monday at the club headquarters, known as Palacio Peñarol, to analyze the situation and it is expected that they will officially announce the dismissal and the replacement for Forlán.
The poor results obtained by Peñarol in the local competition, especially after the last matchdays, where the modest Rentistas managed to equalize a 0-2 deficit ending up with a 2-2 draw and the 'bohemio' Wanderers defeated them on their visit to the Campeón del Siglo stadium, had put his continuity in doubt.
The former striker of Spanish teams Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, Argentine team Independiente, and English team Manchester United was presented as the coach of Peñarol on December 20, 2019, just 8 days before his official farewell as a professional footballer, in an event held at the Centenario Stadium with the presence of great players like Luis Suarez, Juan Sebastian Veron, or Juan Roman Riquelme.
This has been Forlán's first experience as a coach. In an interview with Efe, the former footballer admitted that it was a "big responsibility", but that the driving force behind his career had always been to take on "challenges".
"This is one of the biggest challenges I'm going to have, just like coming to Peñarol (as a player), and now as a coach and leader of a team. Undoubtedly, it won't be easy," he explained at that moment.
He also summarized everything in one sentence: "I have the great opportunity to coach a historic club like Peñarol, and what could be better than having that challenge ahead?"
'Cachavacha' defended the shirt of Peñarol in the 2015-2016 season and is a confessed fan of this club, so his signing by the aurinegra club, just after confirming his retirement from professional football on August 6, 2019, did not come as a surprise. (D)