Julen Lopetegui insists he has no regrets regarding his controversial sacking as Spain manager and is focused only on a "special challenge" at Real Madrid.
Lopetegui was fired by the Spanish Football Federation the day before the World Cup started for announcing his move to Madrid behind the organisation's back, throwing Spain's tournament preparations into chaos.
"I simply took a decision and I would take the same one again, I did it in the most honest way possible and I don't regret anything," Lopetegui told Spanish radio station Onda Cero on Tuesday.
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"I'm absolutely happy to coach Real Madrid, we have a special challenge and great objectives. What happened happened and it can't be changed."
Spain, the 2010 world champions, were one of the favourites to win the World Cup but suffered a shock last-16 defeat by hosts Russia in a penalty shootout.
At his presentation as Real coach the day after being sacked by Spain, Lopetegui said "yesterday was the worst day of my life, today is the best".
"I don't want to look back, I explained how I felt in my presentation and I still feel that way," added Lopetegui, who has led Real Madrid to victory in their first three Primera Liga games although they lost the Uefa Super Cup to Atletico Madrid.
"I don't worry about how it was explained, I don't think back. It's over, we explained how we felt and I insist that we did the right thing, which was to say yes to Real Madrid. I would do it again," he said.
"Real Madrid supporters need to know that me and the players are fully focused on the club."
Spain begin a new era under manager Luis Enrique on Saturday with a Uefa Nations League game away to England before hosting Croatia on Tuesday.
"I hope things go phenomenally well for Spain and for Luis Enrique, I'm a fervent supporter of the national team," Lopetegui said.
"It's an era in my life which has gone by, we have moved on and now we are focused on an objective which is big enough to not worry about looking back. We're focused on the now, what happened before is done."
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
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Emil Forsberg 87'
Tottenham 0
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Liverpool 0
Stoke City 0
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Ons Jabeur (Tunisia)
Maria Sakkari (Greece)
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Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil)
Jeļena Ostapenko (Latvia)
Liudmila Samsonova
Daria Kasatkina
Veronika Kudermetova
Caroline Garcia (France)
Magda Linette (Poland)
Sorana Cîrstea (Romania)
Anastasia Potapova
Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine)
Jasmine Paolini (Italy)
Emma Navarro (USA)
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