Dani Carvajal making up for lost time at Real Madrid as Santiago Solari's side seal sixth win in seven

Those quotes surprised many, particularly as Carvajal has previously played under Carlo Ancelotti and also Zinedine Zidane, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid in his two-and-a-half year tenure. But it gave some insight into the difficulties of coaching Los Blancos.

"For me, he is the best coach I have had," Carvajal said in an interview with TVE early last month. "Unfortunately, he was lacking that bit of luck needed in order to stay with us."

It was also unfortunate for Lopetegui that Carvajal was sidelined for his final four games in charge, the defender having picked up an injury in the 1-0 loss at CSKA Moscow at the beginning of October. Had he been available for those matches, his former boss might still be in a job.

The right-back returned to action as a substitute in the 3-0 loss at Eibar last weekend, but could do nothing to prevent that defeat, although he was one of the better players at Ipurua. He then featured for the 90 minutes at Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday and against Valencia, he was outstanding.

With Marcelo absent on the opposite flank due to an injury, Carvajal assumed greater responsibility and he got up and down the pitch superbly in Saturday night’s match at the Santiago Bernabeu.

After eight minutes, the defender reached the byline, cut back inside, beat a Valencia defender and sent in a dangerous cross which Daniel Wass headed into his own net for the all-important opening goal which settled Real's nerves and allowed them to dominate the first half.

The right-back was involved in much of Madrid’s best build-up play later in the evening and after both sides missed chances in the second half, a bursting run down the right created the opening from which Lucas Vazquez was able to convert the vital second with seven minutes remaining.

As against Valladolid here and also Roma on Tuesday, this was far from convincing from Los Blancos. But the reaction since Eibar has been positive and it is now six wins in seven matches since Solari took over from Lopetegui.

His side are back up to fifth in the table and will go fourth if Alaves are beaten at home by leaders Sevilla on Sunday. And providing the Eibar catastrophe is not repeated any time soon, there are definite signs of recovery at Real, although performances still need to improve.

“I would like us to play more as we did in the first half,” Solari said afterwards. “We did really well. We were concentrated, we were intense. We kept looking for the goal. The contribution of all of the players was important."