Sevilla fires manager Berizzo one week after cancer surgery return

Sevilla doesn’t care about timing.

Yes, it’s the holiday season and, sure, their manager has just come back from cancer surgery, but this is La Liga and they’ve got a season to save at Sevilla.

Eduardo Berizzo, a week returned from prostate cancer surgery, has been fired by the fifth place La Liga club, which is set to meet Manchester United next in the UEFA Champions League.

[ ARSENAL-LIVERPOOL: Recap | 3 things | Stars/duds ]

You’ll remember that Berizzo reportedly told his players of his diagnosis at halftime of a 3-3 comeback against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League.

Here to answer the media’s awkward questions is Sevilla chairman Jose Castro.

“It’s a complicated and painful decision because it always is when you need to dismiss somebody, even more so with someone like Eduardo - a great person and a magnificent professional. But there are moments when you have to take appropriate decisions for the club. There had been a bad run of results and the impressions we were getting from our game give us reason to make this decision - because the reality is we weren’t seeing the project as in the ascendancy. There is an important budget and a responsibility to the club members to always achieve the maximum. We didn’t see ourselves as on the ideal road for that.”

Now he’s out of a job, with Sevilla out of action until a Copa del Rey match on Jan. 3. They restart La Liga play on Jan. 6.

The 48-year-old Berizzo led O’Higgins to a Chilean title before taking over at Celta Vigo, where he led the club to the semifinals of the Europa League. He’s also denied making a now infamous and bizarre rant against homosexuality in football stemming from his time in France.

In this first season at Sevilla, he finished 14W-6D-7L and, of course, missed time with cancer surgery. All seven losses came on the road, with defeats at Barcelona, Spartak Moscow, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, and Real Sociedad.

Follow @NicholasMendola