Real Madrid will present Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz as their new coach today, the Spanish champions have announced. The 53-year-old Portuguese will replace Vicente del Bosque who was sacked as coach on Monday, the day after Real won their 29th league title.
Queiroz flew into Madrid Wednesday for talks with Real's sporting director Jorge Valdano and club president Florentino Perez.
United manager Alex Ferguson has agreed to let Queiroz out of his two-year-contract, with the Portuguese coach becoming the second signing from the English champions after Real paid €35 million for England captain David Beckham last week.
Queiroz was formerly coach of Portugal, Sporting Lisbon and South Africa. But having guided the Africans to the 2002 World Cup he quit before the finals and joined United last summer after Ferguson took almost a year to identify him as the successor to Steve McClaren.
The new Madrid coach immediately set his sights on next season's Champions League, "This is the most famous club in the world. They have built a great part of the story of world football and I am really looking forward to meeting the expectations of the fans," Queiroz said.
He also paid tribute to United boss Ferguson and insisted; "He is a man of magnitude which is beyond comparison. After speaking to him, he is a real football person, more than that, he is football. He has some human qualities which are unknown. He has all of my respect and I have a lot of admiration for Manchester United. They are a great club."
Filed by Rob Wright
