By George Georgiopoulos and Renee Maltezou

ATHENS (Reuters) - Brash and unrepentant for lecturing Europe on the evils of austerity, Yanis Varoufakis rose to instant hero in Greece when he became finance minister in January. Three months on, Greeks are unemotionally accepting his relegation to the sidelines.

His loss of the leading role in negotiations with Greece's creditors is a price that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seems ready to pay to break an impasse with the EU and IMF over securing an aid deal that Greeks badly want.

After Varoufakis infuriated his euro zone peers and failed to achieve progress in the talks, Tsipras reshuffled his negotiating team on Monday, effectively downgrading Varoufakis to a less active role.

With his fortunes already waning in recent weeks, there was little sympathy or shock for the one-time media darling who was dubbed a "rock star" in the euphoria that enveloped Greece in the early days of the Tsipras government.

"Tsipras had to choose between two paths - either adopt the Varoufakis tactic, cause upheaval with the Europeans and put a pistol to Greece's head, or try to save the game even at the last moment, effectively replacing him," wrote the Eleftheros Typos newspaper.

The conservative newspaper also printed a cartoon with Tsipras telling reporters that Greece had a "plan V": "The lenders will give us everything just to get rid of Varoufakis."

Kathimerini newspaper also printed a cartoon showing the muscular Varoufakis in only his underpants, handing over his purple shirt, trademark black jacket and checked scarf to Euclid Tsakalotos, the deputy foreign minister who will now coordinate negotiations with lenders.

Varoufakis angered his European peers from the start by touring capitals to tell policymakers that their recipe of austerity for Greece, imposed under an EU/IMF bailout program, had failed and would be tossed out by his government.

His popularity at home began to dim after a French magazine splashed pictures of him and his wife on the terrace of their Athens home with the Acropolis in the background. An Alco poll published Sunday, however, showed that about 55 percent of Greeks still have a positive opinion of Varoufakis.

SELF PRESERVATION

Nevertheless, the mood among Greeks has begun to shift from hope in the early days of the Tsipras government to growing concern that Greece might go bankrupt, boosting support for any efforts to reach a desperately needed deal with lenders.

"It's a move of self preservation for the prime minister because he feels that Varoufakis is drowning and he could take him down with him," political analyst John Loulis said.

Two polls over the weekend showed solid support among Greeks for a deal rather than a clash with lenders - 50 percent according to Alco and 70 percent according to Kapa Research.

Varoufakis's fate appeared sealed after he returned isolated, bruised and empty-handed from a euro zone finance ministers' meeting in Riga last week. There he was roundly criticized first by peers for his lecturing tone and then by media for refusing to show up at a state dinner.

"It is undoubtedly clear that we are looking at important developments since the finance minister, who was all-powerful until Friday morning, has been cast aside," said the center-left Ethnos daily. "The sentiment this creates is that it's a move that can only have a positive impact on the course of negotiations and its conclusion. But this is something that needs to confirmed."

Still, Tsipras and other lawmakers from his leftist Syriza party publicly continue to support and defend Varoufakis over his relations with the creditors.

"He is an economist who has annoyed because he speaks their language better than they do," Tsipras told Star television, calling him a "significant asset" in the talks. "But the negotiation does not belong to one person, it never did."

(Writing by Deepa Babington; editing by David Stamp)