Baptista determined to keep Real Madrid place

Julio Baptista hopes his recent performances will win him a place in Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster's long-term plans.

Baptista was named best afield for Real's 2-0 defeat of Partizan Belgrade in the midweek Bernabeu Trophy match and admits he enjoyed playing in an attacking midfielder's role.

The Brazil international said: "The truth is that being so long without playing is very difficult for any player and for me it has not been easy. But we have to work and when the opportunity arises we must seize it, this is the most important thing."

"Schuster has been playing with this system for a while and in my last three games I played in that position, it's a little different, but I can also play there, ahead of the midfielders, it is not so defensive as well."