Raul Gonzalez stays at Real Madrid as Champions League club opt against hiring Castilla coach

Originally posted on Football Espana | By John Menzies | Last updated 11/26/23

Over the last few days, Real Madrid Castilla manager Raul Gonzalez was linked with the Union Berlin job, which was vacant following the sacking of Urs Fischer. It would have been his first position in senior management, having been in charge of the Los Blancos subsidiary since 2009.

However, it’s not to be, with Union Berlin announcing on Sunday that they have appointed Nenad Bjelica as their new head coach. The Croatian, who was at Real Betis and Las Palmas during his playing days, takes charge of the Bundesliga side with immediate effect.

E I S E R N, Nenad! pic.twitter.com/Kn0UCPmNik

— 1. FC Union Berlin (@fcunion) November 26, 2023

Bjelica’s first match will be against Braga on Tuesday in the Champions League, and we will face off against Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid in December on MD6 of the 2023-24 group stages.

The Union job is the third one that Raul has been heavily linked with, but missed out on (after Schalke and Villarreal). He has been tipped as a possible replacement for Ancelotti if he steps down from Real Madrid next summer, although at this stage, other candidates are most likely to be considered.

This article first appeared on Football Espana and was syndicated with permission.

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