Falcao revels in Atletico lone role

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2011 by ESPN

Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao says he has improved as a player since joining the Spanish side from Porto in the summer.

Atletico signed the striker from the Europa League champions for €40million after he scored 39 goals in 42 appearances across all competitions for Porto last season.

The 25-year-old Colombia international has so far mainly been deployed as as a lone striker under new coach Gregorio Manzano, but rather than complain about it Falcao believes the new role has helped him develop into a more complete player.

"I am learning along with my team-mates at Atletico and we are making an outline that I use and it works well, so I'm very happy," Falcao told EFE.

"Obviously you have to be very mobile in order to find space [and] to receive the ball unmarked, but I'm [getting] used to it."

Falcao joined the Spanish capital club as a replacement for Sergio Aguero, who was signed by Manchester City earlier in the summer.

Falcao is expected to line-up for Colombia as they take on Bolivia in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, South American giants Argentina and Uruguay both romped to victory in their opening qualifying games for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick and created a goal for Lionel Messi as Argentina beat Chile 4-1 while Uruguay opened their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 4-2 win over Bolivia.