Real goes after new coach to save season but Solari eyes longer stay
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THE search is on for a new coach at Real Madrid.
With the team reeling from a demoralizing loss to Barcelona and far from the top in the Spanish league standings, Real is looking for someone who can turn things around and save the season.
Former player Santiago Solari, coach of Real Madrid B, was in charge of practice yesterday, but the club was in a hurry to find a replacement.
Real fired Julen Lopetegui on Monday, saying it was time to “change the team’s dynamic while all of its objectives for the season were still reachable”.
The club said the team deserved better results with the quality of players it has. Under Lopetegui, Real won six, lost six and drew two. The team is ninth, seven points behind leader Barcelona after 10 matches.
“Ultimately, the way a dressing room is managed is sometimes more important than a coach’s technical knowledge,” Real captain Sergio Ramos said after the Barcelona loss at Camp Nou.
It wasn’t exactly clear what type of coach Real is looking for, whether it is a hardliner like Antonio Conte or a more compromising figure like Roberto Martinez. The team’s recent success came with the calm-mannered Zinedine Zidane. Then again, he had Cristiano Ronaldo. Both left in the offseason.
Real can go with the home solution again. Solari has been following the same path as Zidane, his ex-teammate and also a former coach of Real’s B squad.
“Nobody can be compared to Zidane,” Solari said. “We can leave him and his greatness alone. He was one of the greatest we have ever had at Real.”
The Argentine will be in charge today when Real faces third-division club Melilla in the Copa del Rey. The team then plays on Saturday at home against Valladolid in the Spanish league.
“I see the players motivated to get back to winning,” Solari said. “This is a team of champions, of warriors. It’s a complicated moment but that’s when you see their character. We’ll go day by day, little by little, and then we’ll see what happens.”
But Solari said he is open to becoming Real coach long-term.
“I’m going to go into things very positively. I will do everything I can. It’s a great opportunity and it’s a great club. I don’t just say that now as coach of the first team. I’ve been here with other teams, I’ve played and sweated in the shirt of this club. Real is bigger than all of us but it touches us all with its greatness. I want to be a part of it.”
Solari will be without Raphael Varane, as the defender is set to miss up to a month with a leg injury, Spanish daily AS said.
The 25-year old left the field after 45 minutes in the club’s 1-5 defeat to Barcelona on Sunday.
“He’s been diagnosed with a groin injury to his right leg,” Real said in a statement without noting how long the French international would be out for.
AS said he would be sidelined for up to a month, meaning he could miss France’s games in November against the Netherlands and possible Uruguay.
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