Four Facts About Santiago Solari, Real Madrid Interim Coach

DBasia.news – Real Madrid officially sacked Julen Lopetegui as the coach. Real Madrid B team coach Santiago Solari filled the position for a while.

Here are four facts of Santiago Solari.

1. Zinedine Zidane’s Friend in Real Madrid

Santiago Solari played for 5 seasons in Real Madrid from 2000 to 2005. During that 5 years, Solari was the teammate of Zinedine Zidane for 4 seasons since 2001. In the Galactico era, Solari has the role to support Zidane in creating one of his best goals.

Solari played in 167 matches and scored 16 goals with Real Madrid.

2. Played for Atletico Madrid

Santiago Solari started his career with River Plate and won the Libertadores Cup in 1996.

In 1999, Solari joined Atletico Madrid. The midfielder was upset degraded to the second division before Real Madrid activated his release clause in 2000.

3. Sexiest Player in 2002

Santiago Solari

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In 2002, Solari was nominated as “the sexiest player of the year” by a Spanish television channel.

“I thank the people who voted for me, but I’m sure it’s rigged. We’ll see if I’m offered another career in the film industry when I leave,” Solari said.

4. Started his coaching career in Real Madrid

After deciding to retire as a player, Solari chose to continue his football career as the coach. The first club was Real Madrid junior team before he took over Castilla, the Real Madrid B team.

In 2016, Real Madrid B under Solari finished in the 11th rank and 8th rank in Segunda B, the third division of Spanish League.