Isco's future, a cloud over Real Madrid

Reuters: Real Madrid players talked about their eagerness to improve their results on Thursday (November 29) as a cloud remains over the struggling Los Blancos ahead of this weekend's La Liga action, with the future of Spain midfielder Isco to the fore. Real sit sixth in the table, behind the likes of Espanyol and Alaves, six points off league leaders Sevilla, while Saturday's opponents Valencia are 11th. Isco, who captained his country earlier this month, did not start last weekend's 3-0 humbling at Eibar, and was left out of the squad completely for Tuesday's Champions League victory at AS Roma. The defeat to Eibar was Madrid's fifth in 13 La Liga matches this season, just one fewer than they suffered in the whole of the last campaign. Local media have reported that Isco has fallen out with new coach Santiago Solari, who has not named him in the starting lineup for any of his six matches in charge at the Bernabeu. Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas acknowledged his disappointment at new coach Solari's decision to pick Belgium's Thibaut Courtois ahead of him. Navas won three straight Champions League with Zinedine Zidane as a coach. Defenders Raphael Varane and Daniel Carvajal condemned the violence that has caused the delay of the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final between Boca Juniors and River Plate, saying that they hoped the match, which may now be played at a neutral venue outside of Argentina, will pass off peacefully allowing the winning side to take their place alongside Real at next month's FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.