Lisbon, July 6: Portuguese international left-back Fabio Coentrao has completed a loan move from Real Madrid to Sporting Lisbon.

Coentrao joined Real Madrid from Sporting's local rivals Benfica for around €30 million back in 2011, and has made 106 appearances for the Bernabeu outfit since then, picking up two La Liga winners medals and one Copa del Rey.

In recent seasons, the now 29-year-old has rarely featured for Los Blancos, and had an up-and-down loan spell at Monaco in the 2015-16 season, but now has an opportunity to get his career back on track in his homeland.

The 29-year-old was clearly not rated highly by Zinedine Zidane and it is quite a surprise to see him leave on a loan rather than Madrid willing to let him go permanently.

Muito feliz por ter a oportunidade de jogar neste grande clube pic.twitter.com/pLjty4mc8k

— Fabio Coentrao (@Fabio_Coentrao) July 5, 2017

Coentrao himself tweeted that he was "very happy to have an opportunity to play at his great club" as he and his family visited the Estadio Jose Avalade to complete the deal.

Sporting also welcomed the Portugal international, who has 51 international caps, but did not feature for his country in their Euro 2016 success or this summer's Confederations Cup in Russia.

Welcome to the Lions, @Fabio_Coentrao! 💪 pic.twitter.com/gCJ2LgmLbl

— Sporting CP_en (@SportingCP_en) July 5, 2017

Reports in the Spanish and Portuguese media have claimed that Madrid will pay 90 percent of Coentrao's salary during his season at Sporting.

A close friend of Blancos superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Coentrao was in the headlines earlier this week when he paid €1.7m in back taxes and charges, as he became the latest Jorge Mendes client to run into trouble with Spain's tax authority.

Coentrao, who made just six appearances for Real last season, had revealed the move on Twitter on Tuesday before the two clubs followed up with official statements confirming the deal.

Coentrao won one Primeira Liga and two Taca da Liga titles during his time at Sporting's arch rivals Benfica before joining Real for €30m in 2011.

He featured regularly for the Blancos between 2011 and 2013 before seeing his game time become limited.

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