Real Madrid, Chelsea return to Champions League with rookie coaches in season of firings

Real Madrid and Chelsea resume in the Champions League this week after the winter break with new coaches working in the competition for the first time. Job losses are a strong theme in a season where patience has run thin in the board room and 11 of the 36 Champions League clubs changed coach. Nine of the 11 were fired, the latest being Xabi Alonso one week ago when Madrid removed him after barely seven months and well set in seventh in the Champions League standings. Madrid’s new coach Álvaro Arbeloa will take charge of just the third game of his career when hosting Monaco on Wednesday. The last time Madrid hired a novice coach mid-season, Zinedine Zidane’s appointment in January 2016 led...