Santiago Hernán Solari Poggio (born 7 October 1976) is an Argentine professional football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former player who played as a

left midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent the better part of his 16-year professional career in Spain, amassing

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

totals of 177 matches and 17 goals mainly with Real Madrid, but also played in Italy for

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

, winning 13 major titles between both teams. Solari began working as a coach in 2013, going on to spend several years associated with Real Madrid in different capacities.

Playing career

Club

Early career and River

Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Solari played youth football for

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

and Renato Cesarini, after returning from the United States where he attended Richard Stockton College in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He joined

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Núñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city's estuary, Río de la ...

midway through the 1995–96 season, making his Primera División debut on 12 May. Solari appeared in 24 league games in his first full campaign, helping River to both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments.

Atlético Madrid

Solari moved to Spain late in the 1999 January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

, signing with Atlético Madrid. He played his first

game on 7 February, in a 2–1 away loss against

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

. Solari had his best individual season in 1999–2000 when he scored six goals in 34 matches, but the ''Colchoneros'' were relegated from the top division.

Real Madrid

Subsequently, Solari moved across the city to join Real Madrid, who paid Atlético his buyout clause of 600 million pesetas. After a poor first season he became a regular, albeit as a substitute; in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

2001–02 UEFA Champions League The 2001–02 UEFA Champions League was the 47th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier club football tournament, and the 10th since its rebranding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The tournament was won b ...

, in which he played the full 90 minutes, he was involved in the play that led to

Zinedine Zidane Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the mos ...

's wonder strike against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, in an eventual 2–1 win. Solari's best season with Real was 2003–04, but his five goals from 34 appearances – 15 starts, 1,539 minutes of action – could only help the side to the fourth position in the league. During his five-year spell he also played 49 matches in the Champions League, netting seven times.

Inter and later years

Solari signed a three-year contract with

in the summer of 2005 for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

6 million, being sparingly used during his three-year stint (maximum 21 games in his second season) but winning three consecutive

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

titles to add to his trophy cabinet, the 2006 edition due to the Calciopoli scandal. On 30 June 2008, Solari's contract with the ''Nerazzurri'' expired and he joined

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...

shortly after. On 9 July of the following year, he moved teams and countries again and signed with

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, t ...

from Mexico, again on a free transfer. In early September 2010, the 34-year-old Solari signed with Uruguayan club

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

for one year, yet again as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He retired after only a couple of months.

International

Solari won 11

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in five years. He was not selected for any major international tournaments, however.

Coaching career

Real Madrid

Solari started working as a manager in 2013, first being in charge of Real Madrid's youths. Ahead of the 2016–17 season, he was appointed at the reserves who competed in Segunda División B. On 29 October 2018, Solari was named caretaker manager of the first team after the dismissal of

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Agote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing Real Madrid ...

. He assumed the role the next day, and became the official coach 14 days later because in Spain no club was allowed to have a caretaker for more than two weeks. He won the FIFA Club World Cup during his tenure, extending Real's reign in the competition to three consecutive titles. Solari was sacked on 11 March 2019.

América

On 29 December 2020, Solari was unveiled as the new manager of Club América from Mexico after signing a two-year contract, replacing the fired

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager. He is the head coach of Liga MX club Tijuana. A former ...

. He did not obtain his work permit in time, and as a result could not be on the sideline for the team's opening match of the season against

Atlético San Luis Club Atlético de San Luis, commonly known as Atlético San Luis, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Luis Potosí, replacing San Luis Potosí's Liga MX team San Luis FC after its relocation. San Luis was promoted to Liga MX in ...

. He made his Liga MX debut the following week in a 1–0 away defeat to

C.F. Monterrey Club de Fútbol Monterrey, often known simply as Monterrey or their nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional football club based in Monterrey, Nuevo León which currently plays in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football. Founded on 28 ...

, and earned his first win against

FC Juárez Fútbol Club Juárez, commonly referred to as ''Bravos de Juárez'', or simply as ''Juárez'', is a Mexican football club based in the city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua that currently competes in Liga MX. History Futbol Club Juárez was f ...

on 26 January. He led the side to a second-place finish in the general table, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals by

C.F. Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional football team based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX. Founded by Cornish miners from Camborne and Redruth in 1901, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was ...

. América began the Apertura 2021 tournament with four victories and one draw from five matches, taking Solari's total tally with the club to 18 wins from his first 27 games, tying the mark set by

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

during the 1994–95 campaign. He guided them to

of the CONCACAF Champions League in late October, losing 1–0 to Monterrey. The team finished the Apertura regular phase first in the table with 37 points, though once again falling at the quarter-final stage, being ousted by Club Universidad Nacional 3–1 on aggregate; they had managed to remain unbeaten at home throughout the 2021 calendar year (winning 13 and drawing three). Solari was dismissed on 2 March 2022, after a poor run of results.

Style of play

A dynamic and versatile winger, with excellent technical ability, Solari was mainly known for his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills, although he was also an accurate passer and was capable of striking the ball from distance with both feet.

Broadcasting

Since 2010, Solari worked as pundit for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Personal life

upSolari playing in the 2014 Match Against Poverty Nicknamed ''Indiecito'' (''Little Indian'' in Spanish), Solari came from a sporting family: his uncle

Jorge Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius'' ...

, his father Eduardo and two of his four siblings, younger

Esteban Esteban () is a Spanish male given name, derived from Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos) and related to the English names Steven and Stephen. Although in its original pronunciation the accent is on the penultimate syllable, English-speakers tend t ...

and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, were also footballers. His younger sister,

Liz Liz is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "God's Promise". It is also a short form of Elizabeth, Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Lizanne, Liszbeth, Lizbeth, Lizabeth, Lyzbeth, Lisa, Lizette, Alyssa, and Eliza. People * Liz Balmaseda (born 1959), Pu ...

, worked as an actress. His uncle

played for several clubs during his career, mostly River Plate, whilst his cousin Natalia married

Fernando Redondo Fernando Carlos Redondo Neri (; born 6 June 1969) is an Argentine retired footballer. A defensive midfielder with the ability to contribute offensively and creatively, he turned professional playing for Argentinos Juniors and played one full ...

who also represented Real Madrid. All but David played for Argentina.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Argentina score listed first, score column indicates score after the Solari goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

River Plate * Argentine Primera División: Apertura 1996, Clausura 1997, Apertura 1997 * Copa Libertadores: 1996 * Supercopa Sudamericana:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Real Madrid *

: 2000–01, 2002–03 * Supercopa de España: 2001, 2003 *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

: 2001–02 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

: 2002 * Intercontinental Cup: 2002 Inter Milan *

: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2005–06 * Supercoppa Italiana: 2005, 2006

Manager

Real Madrid * FIFA Club World Cup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

América * CONCACAF Champions League runner-up:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* * *
Inter Milan profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solari, Santiago 1976 births Living people Argentine people of Italian descent Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine footballers Association football midfielders Stockton Ospreys men's soccer players Argentine Primera División players Newell's Old Boys footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Real Madrid CF players Serie A players Inter Milan players Liga MX players Atlante F.C. footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Peñarol players UEFA Champions League winning players Argentina international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine football managers La Liga managers Segunda División B managers Real Madrid Castilla managers Real Madrid CF managers Liga MX managers Club América managers Argentine expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Mexico