Guti: I Am A Creator, Not A Scorer

The Spanish international admits that he is not a natural goalscorer and takes as much enjoyment out of an assist as he does beting the keeper himself.

"I love it," he told the club's official website. "I would rather make an assist than score. I have always played like that.

"I know I am an attacking midfielder and that I have the skills to provide the last pass. I am not a goalscorer. I was more happy seeing the pass result in a goal than I would have been scoring it myself. I am here for a reason."

In recent months Guti has shot to prominence and is now considered a vital player for Madrid, after several seasons of failing to hold down a regular first team place at the club.

Real Madrid's midfield maestro, José María Gutiérrez

His vision and delivery have made him a crucial member of Bernd Schuster's team and the creation of the goal against Valladolid showed why.

"It was as clear as day for me," Guti continued. "I kicked it with my instep and lifted the ball. It went right between the two centre-backs and Ruud did a good job of breaking through.

"It's easy to see eye-to-eye with him because he is such an intelligent forward. The same goes for Saviola, who continued the play just in case and scored the equaliser.

"Saviola always has that intuition; he always finishes plays through. I'm sure he would have been there for the rebound had Van Nistelrooy not scored. He did it against Almería by chasing after a shot by Raúl and getting the rebound and scoring."

When asked about why Madrid had not performed to the same level at the weekend that they did in their first two games, Guti was adamant that expectations are too high.

"Let me make something clear. We are going to be playing a match every three days this season," he explained. "Whoever thinks that we can play well all the time is mistaken.

"We have tough matches in store and we need time to recover. There's barely enough time to prepare for the next match. We always want to play well, but we also have to win.

"I will admit Valladolid were the better team on Sunday. You have to play the entire 90 minutes and the added time in football. It's not over until the referee blows his whistle. We've learned something very important about ourselves.

"We never throw in the towel. We did have trouble because we didn't control possession. We were stunned by Valladolid's energy, but we also had our chances. Raúl and Higuaín each had opportunities."

Reflecting on his new-found status as one of the team leaders, Guti revealed that now is the first time he has been valued since Vicente Del Bosque eft the club.

"I am playing on a regular basis, which allows me to show what I can do," he said. "There were times with other coaches, Del Bosque for example, that I also felt comfortable and happy, but he left for one reason or another.

"It was hard for coaches to play me regularly. I never complained and I never will. I hope this streak lasts, but I also know that I'll have to be rotated out soon. There are a lot of matches in a short period of time and we need everyone."

(Courtesy: goal.com)