Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Isco happy to play support role for Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema

Real Madrid midfielder Isco has admitted that he and some other teammates accept they must work extra hard to allow the club's more high-profile attackers to strut their stuff.

- ESPN FC Player of the Month

Isco was signed for 30 million euros in 2013 but has struggled to find a regular starting place in his preferred attacking midfield position, given the precedence of the club's 200 million euro "BBC" strikeforce of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Speaking ahead of Madrid's Champions League Group B game at Ludogorets on Wednesday evening, the former Malaga player, 22, said the number of goals scored by the "BBC" meant their teammates accepted the need to put in an extra shift.

"Sometimes the team does get split," Isco said. "But we have three monsters up front who score in almost every game. To defend we all must work together, but some [work] more than others."

The 2013 European Under-21 championship winner and now full Spain international said that he was aware that to get playing time at Madrid he knew he had to adapt his game to what coach Carlo Ancelotti needed.

"The coach wants me to contribute in defence and that is what I am doing," Isco said. "If I want to enjoy playing time I must work hard in defence. I want to give my best -- the fans know what I can do with the ball, but I need to defend too.

"Myself and [Asier] Illarramendi are young, we know the competition for places at Real Madrid, we are here to help and play the minutes we can, and in future to win a regular starting place."

The one-time Manchester City target said he had not considered moving elsewhere to get more playing time, recalling that he had won Copa del Rey and Champions League medals during his first 12 months at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

"The truth is I am not playing much, but I hope to play more over the season," Isco. "Last year was incredible for me, we won lots of titles. I am very happy at Real Madrid."

Asked about Wednesday's opponents Ludogorets, Isco admitted that he was not too familiar with their individual players, but was aware of centre-back Cosmin Moti having saved two penalties as an emergency goalkeeper during the playoff shootout against Steaua Bucharest.

"The truth is I do not know much about Bulgarian players, except for the defender who scored I do not know how many penalties," he said. "But I know Ludogorets caused Liverpool problems at Anfield. The boss has shown us some videos, set-pieces et cetera, in these last days. And the home crowd will try and make it difficult for us.

"We all know how football is -- this is not the first or last time that a theoretically smaller team could beat a bigger team. We will go out as we always do, respecting our opponent, and looking to be leaders of the group. We will try and win, we have the team to do it, but we know we cannot relax. We are on a good run and we must keep it going now."

^ Back to Top ^