Raul Suffers First Loss as Real Madrid Castilla Manager as Reserve Side Continue Poor Start

It's been something of a baptism of fire for Raul as he continues his meteoric rise up the Real Madrid coaching ranks, and his reserve side suffered their first defeat of his tenure against Pena Deportiva this weekend.

The club legend returned to Los Blancos initially to coach their Under-15s side in August 2018, but after impressing with his management abilities in his first season, he was quickly run up the ladder, and appointed to take over Real Madrid Castilla this summer.

The step up from youth management to coaching a side playing in the third tier of Spanish football is quite a jump however, especially considering the expectation on the reserve side to gain promotion back to the Segunda Division.

FULL TIME!

Peña Deportiva 2-0 Real Madrid Castilla!

Another very disappointing result, as Castilla deservedly lose without scoring. That’s a start of 4/9 points against the newly promoted teams.

This has been @CastillaStats! The match report will be up later..#MMCastillaLive
— Managing Madrid (@managingmadrid) September 8, 2019

And seems his players may be feeling that early pressure, as they slumped to a 2-0 defeat in their third game under Raul.

His first match ended in a draw with Las Rozas on opening day before a victory over Marino de Luanco left them on four points heading into Sunday's match in Ibiza, but Castilla found themselves behind after nine minutes and failed to get back into the game from there.

The B-team, featuring highly-rated youngsters such as Fran Garcia and Sergio Lopez, will know they need to improve after an underwhelming start, and will be hoping to put it right next Saturday when they host Langreo.

Con mi amigo @RaulGonzalez momentos antes de La Peña Deportiva vs @realmadrid Castilla.
Toda la suerte del mundo Crack! pic.twitter.com/6vB0lDEbrY
— labi (@labichampion) September 8, 2019

Raul has been touted as a future manager of the first team, remaining highly thought-of after a legendary playing career at the Bernabeu.

His 16-year spell saw him net 323 goals, a club record that stood until Cristiano Ronaldo came along and changed the game.