Real Madrid defender Nacho is the first player to speak publicly on Julen Lopetegui's dismissal and the eventual appointment of Santiago Solari. He faces the press after his side's 4-0 away win to Melilla in the Copa del Rey.
First of all, he praises Madrid's new head coach: 'We have a new coach, who is excited and we will fight to the death for him too. We will work as if he's 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.'
He admits it was a lack of luck which cost Lopetegui his job: 'The squad was with Lopetegui, but we didn't have any luck.'
Finally, Nacho shares his feelings after the much-anticipated Melilla win which came right in time after the disastrous 5-1 demolition in Clasico last Sunday:
'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.'
Julen Lopetegui was dismissed on Monday night after he lost six games out of total 14 at Real Madrid's helm. He was replaced by Castilla boss Santiago Solari. However, it is unknown whether the Argentine will remain as a head coach until the end of the 2018/2019 season. Los Blancos are also linked with Antonio Conte, Roberto Martinez, Mauricio Pochettino and other big names.
