Leganés hires Mexican coach Javier Aguirre

MADRID (AP) — Leganés hired Mexican coach Javier Aguirre on Monday to try to lift the Madrid club out of last place in the Spanish league.

Leganés made the announcement a day after it lost to Eibar 2-1 at home and dropped six points from safety.

Aguirre replaces Luis Cembranos, who had taken over as an interim coach after Mauricio Pellegrino left last month.

Aguirre, a former Mexico player, previously coached Spanish clubs Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, Espanyol and Zaragoza. He also coached the national teams of México, Japan and Egypt. His last job had been with Egypt, which he coached until July.

In México, he played for América and Guadalajara, and coached Atlante and Pachuca.

The 60-year-old Aguirre is one of more than 40 people awaiting a ruling in a match-fixing trial involving a Spanish league game between Levante and Zaragoza at the end of the 2010-11 season, when Aguirre coached Zaragoza.

Aguirre denied any wrongdoing when he recently testified before a judge.

Leganés has five points from a victory and two draws in its first 12 league games. Its next match is at third-place Real Sociedad on Friday.