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After an unsuccessful first part of the Spanish championship and a defeat in the King's Cup round of 16 at home to "Zaragoza", the Argentine Carlos Bianchi was relieved of his duties as head coach of the senior team in Madrid.
The former "Boca Juniors" coach, who signed a three-year contract with the capital's club in June, will be temporarily replaced by reserve team coach Pepe Murcia. The latter will be the 12th person to lead the team since Radomir Antic left in 1998.
"We agreed with C. Bianchi to terminate his contract," said Atletico's president Enrique Cerezo at a press conference. "As everyone knows, we started the season with high hopes for both him and the team. We did everything to help the coach, but the team under his leadership did not achieve the expected results."
At the age of 56, C. Bianchi arrived at "Atletico" after a very successful career at "Boca Juniors", where he revived and made it one of the most powerful clubs in South America.
After 18 rounds in the Spanish championship, "Atletico" is only in 12th place and has not won in nine consecutive matches. The last straw for Atletico's leaders in the cup was the defeat at home to "Zaragoza" in the King's Cup round of 16 on Wednesday.
Such poor results have also been met with a reaction from the club's fans, who have recently not only been showing up at the team's stadium apathetically, but also sending their team off with boos.
Before this season, "Atletico" signed several well-known players: Serbian and Montenegrin national team striker Mateja Kezman, Bulgarian national team full-back Martin Petrov, and Argentine national team members Maxi Rodriguez and Luciano Galletti.
In September, Atletico's players sensationally defeated the currently dominant Barcelona 2-1, and remain the only team this season to have beaten the Catalan superclub.
The Spanish media considers the main contenders for the vacant Atletico coach position to be Javier Aguirre, who leads Pamplona's "Osasuna", and Javier Irureta, a former coach of La Coruna's "Deportivo" who has previously represented Madrid's club.
