Wanderley Luxemburgo was appointed as Real Madrid's third coach of the season yesterday.

The former Brazil coach has signed an 18-month contract at the Bernabeu after being identified as the best man to replace Mariano Garcia Remon, who spent just three months in charge.

Garcia Remon, who succeeded Jose Antonio Camacho three weeks into the season, will stay at the club, however, and work under newly-appointed sporting director Arrigo Sacchi.

The reshuffle is designed to invigorate a Madrid side which has lacked direction in recent months and has fallen 13 points behind leaders and bitter rivals Barcelona. Real's new coach has never been far from controversy.

He spent most of his career, including two years in charge of Brazil, with a fake birth certificate which cut three years off his real age and wrongly spelt his first name as Wanderley (it was originally Vanderlei). He said his father obtained it for him when he was a teenager to give him a helping hand at Botafogo.

And the snappiest dresser in Brazilian coaching also has a reputation for opening his mouth and putting his foot in it.

During a recent coaching forum in Rio de Janeiro Luxemburgo, one of the invited speakers, bewildered his high-profile audience by telling them: "If you have two bathrooms in your house and can't decide which one to use, you might end up going in your trousers."

And, after leading Santos to the Brazilian championship this year, he then paid a glowing tribute to himself. "I'm a star," he told reporters. "I've become an example and the new coaches are inspired by me . . . I'm an idol."

Luxemburgo was in his second stint with the club, having walked out on them in 1997 to take up an offer from rivals Corinthians.

On subsequent visits to the Vila Belmiro, he was routinely greeted with a hail of coins and chants of "mercenary" from aggrieved Santos fans angry at what they saw as betrayal.

But after leading Santos to the title, Luxemburgo brushed off the apparently unfriendly behaviour. "It was a demonstration of how much the fans liked me," he said. "They were hostile to me, but they did it with affection."

Luxemburgo arrives at Madrid with an impressive CV, having won the Brazilian championship a record five times with four clubs: Palmeiras in 1993 and 1994, Corinthians in 1998, Cruzeiro in 2003 and Santos this year. He also coached Brazil between 1998 and 2000 and led the side to the 1999 Copa America.

The 52-year-old is expected to deliver similar success at Madrid, but warned the club's fans that it would take time for him to make his mark. "I have come here to win. I cannot say any different, but I cannot promise titles.

"What I can do is to work very hard in the Primera Liga and the Champions League in order to bring them to Real Madrid. The players have to make sacrifices and our priority right now is to form a unity between the players and the club."

Luxemburgo's first competitive fixture will come when Real Madrid play out the remainder of their game against Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu on January 5th. The first game was postponed with seven minutes to play because of a bomb scare.