Real coach under pressure

Spain - Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini's future is uncertain following the club's humiliating 4-0 loss to third-division club Alcorcon in the Copa del Rey.

Defender Raul Albiol called on Tuesday's result a "disaster," while sports daily Marca splashed "Pellegrini go already!" across its front page on Wednesday.

"This is starting to look a lot like the last time," the AS newspaper said, referring to the previous galactico era at Madrid.

Madrid has lost three of five games without injured star Cristiano Ronaldo, part of Madrid's $365m offseason overhaul. Madrid's player budget is more than 400 times higher than Alcorcon's.

Pellegrini vowed to stay on after the match even if director general Jorge Valdano didn't guarantee the Chilean's place beyond Saturday's league match against Getafe.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez poured big money into summer transfers to restore the galactico era he created. But that first experiment ended badly with Madrid failing to win trophies despite fielding players like Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and David Beckham.

Barcelona daily El Mundo Deportivo said Madrid was "Humiliated!" as it lost to a third-division club to open the domestic cup competition for the second straight year.

"It's preoccupying," Albiol said. "But clearly there's a solution. We have to win the next games."

Albiol said tension filled the locker room during halftime after Pellegrini and Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez exchanged heated words after the midfielder was removed.

"There was a lot of tension after that first half," said Albiol, who joined from Valencia for 15 million. "None of us were happy with our performances."

Alcorcon forward Francisco Borja was still grappling with the result.

"The truth is that it feels like a dream," Borja said. "We played it as if it was only another (third-division) game. We had 11 players who fought and ran like crazy."

Borja, who is a card-carrying Madrid member, wouldn't comment on whether Pellegrini should continue.

"Really I would like Real Madrid to win everything but here at Alcorcon I do my best," he said.