Real Madrid president Florentino Perez announced the dismissal of coach Carlo Ancelotti yesterday. Ancelotti was shown the door with a year to run on his Real contract.

Perez declared: "I would like to announce that the Board of Directors have made the decision to relieve Carlo Ancelotti of his duties as Real Madrid coach.

"This has been a difficult decision as you can all imagine, especially for the Board of Directors, but like I always say we are not here, at Real Madrid, to make easy decisions, but to make those that are best for this institution which is recognised globally.

"During these two years Carlo Ancelotti has earned the affection of the Board of Directors, of me personally and of the supporters. He forms part of our history as the coach with whom we won la Décima, but as we all know, the demands are huge at Real Madrid and we believe the time has come for a change of direction that will allow us to win more titles and reach our peak competitive level ahead of a new era.

"We have a great team and we know that through their talent and hard work we are going to bring happiness to those who are most important to us, our members and supporters. I would like to publicly thank Carlo Ancelotti for his two years of service, all his hard work and the affection he has shown. And I would like to tell him that this is still his home. We would also like to announce that we will be revealing the name of the next Real Madrid coach next week."