REAL MADRID
Why Solari was over an hour late to pre-game press conference
The manager was speaking to José Ángel Sánchez and then working in his office after the training session with the players already at home when it started.
Santiago Solari was an hour and fifteen minutes late for his press conference on Saturday ahead of Real Madrid's trip to Valladolid on Sunday night. The Argentine was supposed to speak to the media at 13:00 but did not appear until 14:15 with reporters left wondering where he was.
According to an As source, Solari was having a chat with José Ángel Sánchez, the club's general director, after the training session he took with his team. It's normal for the director to locate himself at Valdebebas ahead of big games to speak with the squad and even moreso during a complicated period.
Players surprised by Solari's tardiness
At first, it was presumed that Solari was chatting with his players but they were surprised as to the delay as the session ended at a normal time with no team talks after. Most of them were at home by the time Solari had sat down to face the media. The delay was not planned either as those reponsible for the details of press conferences said he would be out at 13:00, as is normal.
After the chat with the general director, Solari was working in his office. He also spoke to the commuications team at the club because they knew there would be sensitive questions asked about the current situation.
Solari was spiky in his press conference and did not avoid questions that he usually would. During his earlier press conferences, he would always defend his players regardless of the situation but admitted on Saturday that some of those in the squad "are not up to it" and he says he told them as much to their face.
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