Real Madrid: Santiago Solari wants to replicate Sevilla match success in the Copa Del Rey first leg
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid will return to Copa Del Rey action on Thursday night as they host Girona in the first-leg of the quarterfinal round. Los Blancos boss Santiago Solari wants his team to build on the weekend’s successful outing against Sevilla in this match.
“We’ll have to try and reproduce what we did against Sevilla and how we have performed in some our previous games, like the matches against Celta, Viktoria Plzen and Roma and produce that solidity,” said Solari leading off his pre-match presser on Wednesday.
The Madrid boss has had his team playing well in the Copa since taking over in late October. Solari is 3-0-1 and is looking to guide Real to the club’s first domestic cup title since 2014.
After an impressive 2-0 win over Sevilla, Solari is expecting his players to build on a successful outing against a struggling Girona side. The side from the Catalan region has not won a match since December 5 and have yet to keep a clean sheet since the beginning of November.
Solari, however, is not taking the side that currently sits in 12th lightly.
"“Girona have a lot of strengths. They’re enjoying a really good season, are strong defensively, quick in attack, make good transitions and are a threat from set pieces.”"
As we saw in the previous round of the tournament, Real Madrid could benefit from having the first-leg in the Santiago Bernabéu. That is, if they can build a lead in the opening leg as we saw against Leganés.
Solari received good news earlier this week with Mariano Díaz, Marcos Llorente, and Toni Kroos all returning to full squad training. He made mention of these three players and hinted that Mariano might still need a little more recovery time before returning to match play.
The Madrid boss has emphasized that he sees no difference between the Copa, league, and Champions League play. I think all of us fans can agree that that is simply not the case based on the way the players approach each competition.
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Solari made clear that while he is a key cog in the way the club functions, it all comes down to the players on the pitch.
"“The only formula that works revolves around commitment, enthusiasm and excitement. It’s the only way to compete and show that same passion. The players are at the heart everything we’re trying to do and they have to put their heart and soul into every game.”"
It will be interesting to see who the boss puts on the pitch against Girona with just two days off between matches.