By Ameenu Shardow
Michael Essien has drawn praise from manager Jose Mourinho after scoring his debut goal for Real Madrid on Saturday.
The Ghana international finished off a neat counter attack move in the 4-0 drubbing of Real Zaragoza in the Spanish top flight.
Essien was used in his preferred central midfield role after a brief spell at the left-back position following injuries to Alvaro Arbeloa, Marcelo and Fabio Contrao.
And he repaid the faith reposed by getting Madrid’s third goal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Fellow new signing Luka Modric also got onto the scoresheet for the first time for Los Blancos.
And the duo’s all-roundperformance excited Mourinho who is without influential Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira.
"Alonso and Khedira have been two important and key players for the last two and a bit years," Mourinho said.
"In the past two seasons, when one of them was missing we were in trouble, and if they were both out, we were desperate.
"Today, without them, the team did enough to win.
“It was not easy for the players who replaced them, because the team is a bit unbalanced and they were a bit alone in the midfield. In the end each of them got a goal."