An Embarrassment that Highlights Solari

The name of Santiago Solari reappeared this Wednesday on the social networks of Madrid fans, now a more plausible fishing ground for opinion before the empty stands due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Argentine, the new coach of América de México, came to the fore again due to the elimination of Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey when they fell to Alcoyano. The reason? His decisions when he was in charge of the white team when managing the squad.

Solari ascended to the bench of the first team from Castilla to hook a Real Madrid of Lopetegui where the game was not out of tune (Kroos himself assured it), but which was not accompanied by luck, or the goal. So neither are the results. The change was mandatory.

Solari arrived as an interim although he assumed command in full place in a few weeks due to Conte’s refusal to take over the team in the middle of the campaign. He went up ready to change what did not convince him. There appeared two members of the old guard of Zinedine Zidane: Isco and Marcelo. The Brazilian and the Malaga player were two key men in winning the Champions League and LaLiga with Marseille, but they were not part of Rosario’s plans for Real Madrid.

The disagreement with Isco

The confrontation with Isco was more palpable and began with the first defeat in Ipurúa after an immaculate streak of victories, when he denied the greeting. Then, minutes of minor importance, absences in the calls, discards before games and even a wake-up call in public near the end of the coach’s stage. “We handle disciplinary issues internally. But sports do not change, it is like that here and in all teams. To play you have to get in physical shape first and then take the competitive form. That is inexorable,” he said when asked by him. malagueño.

This Wednesday, the one from Arroyo de la Miel played against Alcoyano and, despite a good start, he ended up somewhat disconnected. Criticism flew and put Solari on the side ‘of reason’ by taking weight off the rotation. One that he recovered with the arrival of Zizou.

Since Zidane’s return, Isco won minutes again. The man from Marseille tried to get him back but the man from Malaga was unable to pull the door back. “If he puts me on, he takes me off in 50 ‘; and if he has to take me out, he does it in 80’ …” the Movistar cameras caught him saying, putting the focus, again, about his lack of opportunities this season. Zidane justified them at a press conference. Taking away iron and almost self-blaming. “I do not give him opportunities to show the player that he is,” said the Frenchman. This campaign adds just 470 minutes and even asked for his departure, which the coach himself publicly denied.

Marcelo’s case

Holy and sign of the European dynasty, Marcelo added 14 years in the Real Madrid discipline this January 7 when he faces, possibly, his most difficult moment. This began, in part, with Solari, with whom they also unite their name after the elimination of the cup in which the side participated.

In every opportunity, the Brazilian does not shine as before and, although he works to recover the level, he does not arrive to compensate with the excellent attack of the past what he continues to leave in defense. Mendy has earned him the position. With Solari it already happened. He preferred Sergio Reguilón in a good handful of games.

The situation was complicated and, in an interview with the Youtube channel De Sola, Marcelo referred to those months without pronouncing, yes, the name of Solari. “I could have made a mess, but I’m not like that. I prefer to work. I stayed on the bench for a month, two months … But I’m always the same, I don’t change. I kept working, I knew my opportunity would come and it came later”, he said about Solari’s change after Zidane’s return. “I wanted to receive an explanation, I did not have any. But it was not a problem,” he added without mentioning the Argentine.

At the time, some annoyances deprived him of entering the first stages of Solari as a coach. Meanwhile, Reguilón began to seize his opportunity. The return of Zidane, as he himself tells it, returned him to green and took out the Spanish. Now, with Reguilón out, compete with Mendy, who does not remove the position either. This has left him on the bench for almost the entire Champions League (he only played in 2-3 against Shakthar), the Super Cup and much of LaLiga, a competition in which he has been left out of the games with more substance. (Classic, derby, against Sevilla) and where it has not stood out in the commitments to be resolved by the less common, participating in the defeats against Cádiz, Valencia and Alavés or the draw against Elche.

A shared legacy

Santiago Solari decided to change the guard but the briefness of his stage (133 days condemned for the elimination of the Cup against Barcelona and in Europe against Ajax) condemned his plan. The arrival of Zinedine Zidane returned to the eleven several members of the ‘old guard’ and to change roles and even teams to several young people who began to stand out with the Argentine. The best examples: Vinicius, Reguilón, Marcos Llorente and Fede Valverde.

Of the four, only the Brazilian and the Uruguayan remain in the white first team. The former Flamengo winger began to emerge with Solari and, after a brief period of starts (Clásico included) with Zidane this season, he is now far from the eleven. On Wednesday, against Alcoyano, he was not too successful either and he was short of the daring that characterized him. ANDThe Uruguayan, who suffered a serious shin injury that took him out for a month, is still starting when more than a month passes from his medical discharge, although this has been of greater importance for Zidane.

Llorente, after staying since 2017 in search of the opportunity, ended up going to Atlético de Madrid, where he has discovered a new future as an attacker with Simeone. Reguilón, meanwhile, looks for the future in London like not a few young Spaniards. Little surprised not to have explanations from Zidane, as he asserted in AS, he left Real Madrid this summer for Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham. With the return of Zidane, he went on loan to Seville, where he overcame a serious injury and returned to his best level. Then heading to London. Real Madrid as a club does not lose confidence in its youth squad and maintains a buyback option for 40 million euros for the next few seasons.