The enigma that is Isco
UNDOUBTED BRILLIANCE: BUT REAL STAR PERCEIVED TO LACK DISCIPLINE
Madrid
Santiago Solari called it a “sporting decision, nothing else” as if that made it better but he was only fanning the flames of what has become his first niggling problem at Real Madrid.
If Isco was injured, his absence from even the substitutes’ bench for the Champions League win over Roma on Tuesday would hardly have warranted a second look, but Solari’s tactical choice pointed to something deeper.
Solari had not picked him in any of his first five starting lineups but three times brought him on, against Real Valladolid, Viktoria Plzen and Eibar.
Then, at the Stadio Olimpico, Isco was not involved at all, instead sitting in the stands.
He underwent an appendix operation towards the end of September but the expected recovery time was only a month. He was also loyal to Lopetegui, who showed faith in him for Spain when Zinedine Zidane was ignoring him at Real Madrid.
“If they sack him, they should sack all of us,” said Isco, when Lopetegui’s job was on the line last month, a remark quickly criticised by captain Sergio Ramos.
It has been suggested Solari took note and saw in Isco’s comments the kind of cockiness some believe was the cause of the malaise under Lopetegui.
“These are calls you make in a certain moment,” Solari said. “It was a sporting decision, nothing else. There are no guaranteed starters, or substitutes, in football. It is up to all players to be at 100 percent, to make the coaches pick them.”
Perhaps Lopetegui’s departure hit Isco harder than most. He might have felt he finally had a Real Madrid coach that believed in him, only for Solari to take over and put him back on the bench.
When Isco’s future has looked uncertain, he has never been short of suitors. Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool, even Barcelona, were reportedly trying to nab him before his latest contract renewal in September last year.
That deal included a reported release clause of €700 million, not a figure usually attached to fringe players, but club support for Isco has not always dovetailed with confidence from the coach, whether it be Carlo Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez or Zidane.
When he left Malaga for €23 million in 2013, the sense was that Real were adding their own touch of Xavi Hernandez or Andres Iniesta, a Spanish midfielder from the next generation with technique, swagger and an eye for a pass.
But doubts have always lingered around his tactical discipline.
Questions will be asked again if he is left out of today’s La Liga game at home to Valencia, where Real will be hoping to prove their loss to Eibar last weekend was just a blip in an otherwise impressive revival. –