Higuain Ready To Be New Centre-Forward

Gonzalo Higuain is flavour of the month at the offices of Spanish sports daily As, as they interviewed him in the aftermath of his tremendous strike at Real Mallorca.

Real Madrid's Gonzalo Higuain told As of his desire to fight his way back into coach Bernd Schuster's Liga plans.

The young Argentine has found himself used only as a squad player this season, but after scoring in the ill-fated Copa del Rey match at Mallorca midweek, he's ready to make a step up.

The 20-year-old said, "Against Mallorca, we picked up a result that we didn't want, but now we have 90 minutes to turn it around."

"My volley? That was one of the most beautiful goals of my career, along with the one that I scored for Boca against Corinthians. That was nice because I did it almost without thinking."

"It was a good way to score after having not done so for a while. It wasn't that I couldn't score, but there are runs that you go on, and now I hope to have a good streak."

That would be a turnaround for a player who's largely been out of the lineup after a rather difficult beginning to the campaign.

"Early season form? It was just a footballing downturn," said the Argentine.

"Maybe not so much a downturn as a lack of continuity. I was injured at a bad time, when I was playing well. I lost my position. I had to fight back, and I suffered during my recovery."

"Now I feel that I'm playing well in my favoured position - up front - and I hope to do well. I did things right against Alicante and Mallorca. I need to keep on adding minutes."

His aim is indeed to play more, and to do so at centre-forward.

"Madrid signed me after they saw what I did in Argentina," he explained, "and the closer to the area I am, the better I feel. I want to be Schuster's 'nine' at Madrid."

"I'm calmer, and it's clear to me what I need to do in my days to come."