"I am here to make decisions" – Solari on Isco being dropped

Real Madrid boss Santiago Solari insisted he has no problem with Isco, who was dropped for the Champions League clash with Roma on Tuesday.

Champions League victory

Madrid bounced back in style from their humiliating LaLiga defeat at Eibar on Saturday, with Gareth Bale and Lucas Vázquez scoring in a 2-0 victory at Stadio Olimpico, although things could have been different if not for Cengiz Ünder's terrible miss.

Playmaker Isco, who has struggled with injuries this season, was not even included among the substitutes for the Group G encounter, but Solari revealed it was purely a tactical decision.

Decisions

"Dropping Isco was a specific decision for a specific moment," Solari said. "Coaches are in place to make decisions and that's it, I am here to make decisions.

"Sometimes we make the right ones, sometimes we don't but it's easy to say that after the game Decisions are almost always sporting, except in exceptional cases, although there are none of those here.

"Starters and substitutes are fictitious problems that don't exist. The players are here to give everything and be at 100 per cent so they can be picked; they showed they can take responsibility and we're really happy to get the win."

"We had to work hard and suffer, but sometimes that's just what you need to do and we won playing like that," he said.