Real Madrid defender Nacho said that the players will support interim manager Santiago Solari just like they supported Julen Lopetegui. Solari became Real Madrid’s interim following the sacking of Julen Lopetegui following a string of poor results.
Real Madrid won their first match under Santiago Solari by thrashing third tier team Melilla in a Copa del Ray fixture yesterday. Karim Benzema gave Real the lead in the 28th minute before Marco Asensio added a second just before half-time. Alvaro Odriozola scored Real’s third before substitute Cristo Gonzalez added a fourth.
Following the match, Nacho spoke about Solari and Lopetegui. He said that the squad supported Lopetegui despite lacklustre results which was due to ‘bad luck’.
The defender said, “We will work as if he [Solari] is here for the full season. He is from here, he is experienced, he has won titles with Madrid. We, the players, don’t have to make these decisions and we will see what happens but he’s a great coach. The squad was with Lopetegui, but we didn’t have any luck. Now we have a new coach, who is excited, and we will fight to the death for him, too.
It has been a difficult time after the Clasico, where he had a result which we hadn’t expected. But this is football and, luckily, we had a game very soon after, which we wanted to win and above all score goals in. Obviously, it’s painful to lose like the other day but thankfully there are more games to come.”
Real’s first La Liga match under Solari is against Real Valladolid on Saturday.
