Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lucas Moura admits it has been "very difficult" to watch many of the club's bigger matches this season from the bench following Angel Di Maria's arrival.
Lucas, 23, has started 10 league games so far this campaign but he has only played 49 minutes in the Champions League during three substitute appearances.
The Brazilian winger has faced extra competition for a starting place since Argentina international Di Maria joined the club in the summer in a €63 million move from Manchester United.
Lucas told ESPN recently that he would have to improve his output during his fourth season in Paris.
Ahead of PSG's trip to Sweden to face Malmo on Wednesday, he said he was working hard to try to become a guaranteed starter.
"It's very difficult to remain outside [on the bench]," Lucas told RMC. "It's very difficult not to be able to do the things that you love to do, but that's football. The coach has to pick 11 players to start [each game] and I have to respect that.
"I have to wait for my chance but it's very difficult. After the arrival of Di Maria, I lost a bit of game time, but that's normal. You always have competition and great players who can play.
"The winner in that case is Paris Saint-Germain. With great players, even if a player is unavailable, another can come in and make the difference.
"PSG wins in that case and me too because I work more to get my place back.
"That's what I'm in the process of doing. I work very hard during the week at training and when I have the chance to play I want to do everything I can to help the team."
Lucas, who has previously talked up PSG's chances of going unbeaten in Ligue 1, says the French champions are in the middle of an "incredible" season.
He feels that winning the league early would allow PSG to rest players ahead of the Champions League knockout stages.
But despite the fact that Laurent Blanc's side are 13 points clear after just 14 games, he says Ligue 1 is not as easy as it looks.
"It's never easy," Lucas said. "We make a match easy because we have the quality to do that.
"We know that we're very strong, but there are teams that can win too, that can hurt us. With the team that we have, we certainly should win.
"But you have to respect the other teams who can also do some good work."