Real Madrid will play against Real Betis on Saturday and Ancelotti will have to deal with a lot of absences. Besides Modric, Kroos, Marcelo, Mendy, Mariano and Lunin, with the latter missing due to testing positive for Covid-19, the list will also have a new name on it: Nacho Fernandez. So, the defensive line will only have 5 available players in a moment where at least 4 are needed to follow the tactics properly.
Los Blancos have picked up four points from their first two games, making easy work of Alaves before drawing 3-3 with Levante last time out. So, ahead of this Saturday’s clash with Betis in Seville, Carlo Ancelotti has been dealt an injury setback in the form of Nacho Fernandez. According to Marca, Nacho has suffered a muscular overload and has not participated in full training this week.
With Ferland Mendy still out at left-back, Ancelotti could be left with few options at the back if Nacho does indeed miss out. The return of Marcelo to training could be key, potentially allowing Ancelotti to bring David Alaba into the centre of defence to partner Militao with Marcelo playing left-back. But that’s not possible this weekend since the squad list for the game against Betis did not include Marcelo. That means Alaba will likely stay on the left with Jesus Vallejo coming in to replace Nacho.
Everything emerged earlier this week when Nacho suffered a muscular overload after Los Blancos drew with Levante last weekend. That saw the defender miss training sessions earlier this week, though it was hoped he would return as the week progressed. But so far, that has not been the case, with Nacho remaining out for the entirety of this week so far.
There are a number of other areas that he will need to sort out as well, the first being whether Dani Carvajal will replace Lucas Vazquez at right-back. Isco will also be looking to keep his place alongside Casemiro and Fede Valverde, while Ancelotti will have to decide whether Vinicius will start following his brace at Levante.
The final list of the called up players will consist of: Courtois, Luiz Lopez, Toni Fuidias, Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Vallejo, Miguel, Casemiro, Valverde, Vasquez, Isco, Blanco, Hazard, Benzema, Asensio, Jovic, Bale, Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo.
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