Beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey and Santiago Solari might just stand a chance at Real Madrid

When Santiago Solari was handed his three-year contract last November most believed it wasn’t worth the paper – even by Real Madrid contract standards – that it was written on.

Surely he was there to hold the fort until the club could pursue Mauricio Pochettino, Massimiliano Allegri or even, if Florentino Perez could persuade everyone else at the club to rehire him, Jose Mourinho.

But Solari has ceased to be just the pretty face filling the space for a more permanent manager. This week Madrid retook their team photo – something they have to do most years because they have changed coaches mid-season – and Solari, flanked by Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, was in the middle of the shot looking as permanent as a Real Madrid coach ever can.

Santiago Solari has done his chances of staying as Real Madrid boss the world of good recently

Everything will be decided by titles won at the end of the season; but he has turned things around in the league sufficiently to go into this week’s Copa del Rey semi-final first leg knowing that if he were to beat Barcelona over two games and send the team into the final he would have massively improved his chances of permanently landing the job.

Solari has succeeded where his predecessor failed by bringing in new young players, handling older, established but slightly fading stars, and by tinkering tactically with the team to help it cope in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo world. It’s a measure of how well he is doing that in recent weeks no-one is talking about how much the great Portuguese is missed.

The individual success stories of his reign so far are easily identifiable. The 22-year-old left back Sergio Reguilon and 18-year-old forward Vinicius were both struggling to get a look in under Julen Lopetegui.

Both have come in and done well not just because they have the burst of youthful energy that Madrid need, but because they also have the intelligence that makes it all the more difficult to fathom why they were not used before.

On Saturday, as Madrid struggled to break down a stubborn Alaves side who had parked nine men behind the ball, it was Reguilon who broke from deep and it was Vinicius who spotted him and played a pass through defender Vigaray’s legs to send him clear.

Reguilon then lifted his head and crossed for Karim Benzema to score the all-important breakthrough goal. The early-season Madrid would never have carved a way through Alaves’ stubborn defence. Solari has given the team width with Vinicius on the left and right back Alvaro Odriozola or Dani Carvajal attacking on the other flank.

His promotion of Vinicius has been one masterstroke that has helped reignite the team

Sergio Reguilon has also been a success at left back, winning Solari credit at the Bernabeu

Modric has been rewired and is now firing. In part that is down to him having shaken off his World Cup hangover but it also owes something to Solari playing him slightly further forward, using Toni Kroos alongside Casemiro to shield and protect the defence.

The players have responded to his honest managerial style. His battle with Isco, who he originally left out because he believed he was training badly, has ultimately seen him win the confidence of senior squad members, save perhaps Marcelo who like Isco has been sidelined.

Solari has also won his personal battle of wills with outcast former favourite Isco

Marcelo is another big name dropped ahead of the Copa del Rey semi-final on Wednesday

All this has brought Solari’s Madrid through some difficult games. Now he must lead them at the Nou Camp. Jose Mourinho’s first league Clasico away to Barcelona ended in a 5-0 defeat. Rafa Benitez’s first Clasico ended in a 4-0 defeat at the Bernabeu. And Lopetegui’s first Clasico finished 5-1 to Barcelona.

If Solari begins not with a humiliating defeat but a win, albeit in the cup, then he will have gone some way to keeping the job at the end of the season.

Lionel Messi (second left) and Barcelona could scupper Solari’s dreams, however