Football
Isco says goodbye to Real Madrid and takes a dig at Mbappé. Where will the golden boy go?
Isco spent 9 long years at Real Madrid. He arrived in the Spanish capital in 2013 as the winner of the Golden Boy award for the best youngster, rewrote history at the royal club and now, at the age of 30, is leaving the Santiago Bernabéu after his contract expired.
Isco spent 9 long years at Real Madrid. He arrived in the Spanish capital in 2013 as the winner of the Golden Boy award for the best youngster, rewrote history at the royal club and now, at the age of 30, he is leaving the Santiago Bernabéu after his contract expired.
Isco began to demonstrate his talent very early on at Malaga. He took the Andalusian side to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2012/13, where they crashed out unluckily after two goals in stoppage time from Borussia Dortmund.
He had no regrets, however, as he lifted the trophy the very next year. The golden boy was bought by Real Madrid and Isco immediately started to show his magic.
He scored 8 goals and added 6 assists in his first season in the league, and scored three times in the Champions League. And scoring points was not his main strength, he won the fans over with his incredible kicking technique, which was matched by few.
Very soon he earned the nickname “MagIsco”. He rewrote history at Real Madrid, winning the Champions League 5 times, and in the 2017 and 2018 finals, he also started in the starting line-up and played a key role in both trophy runs. Zinedine Zidane rebuilt the formation to 4-4-2 on the diamond because of him and even sat Gareth Bale.
But Isco later stagnated and his performances went downhill rapidly. So he’s been rather under the radar since the 2019/20 season, especially he hasn’t played much this season.
Therefore, the logical outcome comes, Real Madrid will not extend his expiring contract. Isco is thus saying goodbye after nine years to the royal club where he has experienced some beautiful moments. He already said goodbye to the fans on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabéu while celebrating the Champions League victory, he wrote the final punctuation on his Instagram. Incidentally, he also took a dig at Kylian Mbappé.
Emotional farewell
“When I was in Malaga, I knew I had to leave. Real Madrid knocked on my door and Real Madrid must not or should not say no, although there are always exceptions,” Isco wrote, adding a turtle emoji, as Mbappe is nicknamed after his resemblance to the Ninja Turtle character.
“I remember telling my friends that Real hadn’t won the Champions League for a long time and that I felt it was going to fall any minute and La Décima had arrived. Everything that came after that is history,” Isco recalls of his arrival in Madrid.
“Nine years later, the stage ends at the club that allowed me to fulfil all my childhood dreams. I will always remember the good things and I hope you will too,” says Francisco Alarcón, nicknamed Isco.
“By the way, I was telling a friend yesterday that I don’t understand why they are cleaning up the title celebrations in Cibeles Square when the 15th Champions League title is on its way,” Isco concluded his farewell.
And where will his next steps lead? Real Betis are the biggest favourites to win the 30-year-old midfielder. The sixth La Liga club has already made contact with the Spaniard during the spring and Isco himself has no problem moving to Sevilla.
However, he is leaving as a free agent, so he will have plenty of offers to choose from. The Italian Serie A is not excluded, where AC Milan or AS Roma were interested in Isco before.
Source: Isco, MARCA
