Extinct star Isco shines again after years. Renewed collaboration with Málaga’s Pellegrini bears fruit

When Isco transferred to Real Madrid from Málaga in 2013, he was a fresh Euro U21 winner. Today, he is 31 years old and has started the season at Real Betis in style. Coach Manuel Pellegrini, who has already given him a second chance, can wash his hands of him.

His full name is Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez and he is from Valencia in Spain, from which he transferred to Málaga in 2011 for €6 million, where he had a dream 2 years. In his first season, the club finished 4th in La Liga and secured a Champions League qualification, which they did at the start of the 2012/13 season and qualified for the main stage.

Nothing easy awaited them in the group stage as the draw assigned them AC Milan, Zenit St. Petersburg and Anderlecht. However, they won the group without a single loss and qualification was in the cards. When they also knocked out Porto in the eighth round, Málaga seemed to be the dark horse of the competition.

However, Borussia Dortmund put a stop to it in the quarter-finals and the Spanish club had to say goodbye to the competition. Still leading 2-1 in the 90th minute, Jurgen Klopp’s side produced an incredible finish. An unforgettable match, the result of which many people found out to their shock long after the game.

Isco, however, caught the eye of Real Madrid, where he moved for €30 million in the summer of 2013, overshadowed by the arrival of Gareth Bale at more than triple the price. His first season was a great one for him, he featured very often in the starting line-up, he was so instrumental in winning the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, in which he scored 3 goals, adding 8 more in La Liga.

However, for the next season he had a lot of competition in the team. James Rodríguez, the top scorer of the World Cup in Brazil, a footballer operating in the same position as the technical Spaniard. Ancelotti, however, often built an offensive midfield, and so Isco was on the pitch very often. After the dismissal of the Italian strategist, however, came the game’s decline, which only changed with the arrival of Zinedine Zidane.

The French coach preferred Isco over James and made him an integral part of the Champions League winning team. In the period between Zidane’s arrival and the summer of 2017, the skilful Spaniard was one of the best midfielders in the world. Almost everyone remembers his fantastic performance for the national team against Italy. Of course, when Zidane was finished, it was as if Isco was finished too.

He didn’t do well in the games, he hardly played at all. Nothing has changed even with the re-emergence of Ancelotti. It was clear that Isco and Bale were not in his plans and he hardly featured.

When his contract expired in Madrid, he signed a new one with Sevilla. It wasn’t a bad start, Julen Lopetegui was betting on him and Isco rewarded with good performances. But as a team, Sevilla did not perform well and the Spanish midfielder terminated his contract with the club that had 3 coaches that season.

He spent the winter as a free agent trying to find a club. A deal with Berlin Union, who eventually qualified for the Champions League, fell through at the very end. It is alleged that the mistake was in the amount of the agreed salary, which was understood differently by each side.

No other club approached the Spaniard and he had to train individually for six months. The media poured salt into the open wound with articles mentioning the end of his career several times.

For more than half a year Isco was therefore without an engagement. It was only this summer that Real Betis came with a contract offer. A club that has been at the top of La Liga in recent years. In the first three matches the Spanish midfielder was in the starting line-up, scoring a goal at Bilbao and what is almost unbelievable is the fact that in all three matches Isco was named player of the match.

If he keeps up his performances, an invitation to the national team probably won’t pass him by in years to come. The question remains what the recovery of Fekir, who is starting in the same position, will do to his playing load.

Source: LaLiga, Real Madrid