Camacho prepares to quit

Barring a last minute change of heart, Jose Antonio Camacho will quit as Real Madrid coach on Monday four months after starting the job.

Camacho offered his resignation to club president Florentino Perez on Sunday following his team's 1-0 defeat at Espanyol saying that he felt incapable of carrying on because he did not enjoy the support of the players.

"I can't take any more," was Spanish sports daily Marca's reported version of the conversation that took place between Camacho and Perez.

"I can see that there is no rapport with the squad. I had great hopes about this job but they haven't been realised."

Newspapers said Perez persuaded Camacho to think on the decision overnight before making an announcement about his future.

If Camacho does go through with his resignation it will be the second time he has made a premature exit from the club he served so loyally as a player.

He managed just 23 days in the post in 1998, quitting before the season had even started following

This time it is relations with the squad and in particular with the high-profile "Galacticos" that is the reason behind his decision to throw in the towel.

Real, who ended last season with a worst ever five-match losing streak, successfully negotiated their way through the qualifying round of the Champions League, then scraped two disappointing 1-0 wins in their first two Primera Liga games.

The team suffered a stinging 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday and then turned in an appalling performance to lose at Espanyol.

Already missing Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo through injury, Camacho dropped club captain Raul and England midfielder David Beckham from his starting line-up against Espanyol, but the changes failed to shock the team into playing better.

Spanish media reported that if Camacho did resign his assistant Mariano Garcia Remon would take charge of the team as caretaker.