MADRID (AFP) - Villarreal, without a victory in La Liga since the end of November, announced on Tuesday (Jan 29) that they have fired coach Luis Garcia after just 50 days at the helm.

"The club will announce the name of the new Villarreal CF manager in the coming hours," said the official website.

Luis Garcia replaced Javi Calleja on Dec 10. His only victory in any competition came three days later when Villarreal beat Spartak Moscow 2-0 at home to clinch first place in their Europa League group.

Since then, Villarreal have drawn four and lost two league games and been eliminated by Espanyol over two legs in the Copa del Rey, a run of eight matches without a victory.

The Yellow Submarine have sunk to 19th in the 20-team Liga and are five points away from safety. They are at home to Espanyol on Sunday and face Sporting Lisbon in the last 32 of the Europa League on Feb 14 and 21.

"The club would like to thank the manager for his hard work, dedication and professionalism, wishing him the best of luck throughout his sporting career," the website said, adding that Luis Garcia would say farewell at a press conference at the Villarreal training ground in the afternoon.