Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Real Madrid could line up for Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg with Bayern Munich.
Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has received a triple fitness boost ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
Los Blancos, who crushed Manchester City’s dreams of back-to-back crowns in the quarter-finals, scraped past Real Sociedad 1-0 in La Liga action on Friday, where Ancelotti put out a makeshift team.
Among the absentees were Rodrygo (illness) and Ferland Mendy (fatigue), while Jude Bellingham did not make it off the bench, having suffered from a stomach bug over the past week.
However, the trio have since trained normally and are expected to be given the all-clear for the trip to Munich, but Ancelotti will still be without three senior defensive players for the first leg.
Indeed, Thibaut Courtois and David Alaba are still on the way back from knee injuries, while Dani Carvajal was booked for the third time in the 2023-24 Champions League at the Etihad and must serve a one-game ban.
With Carvajal in the naughty corner, Lucas Vazquez will start at right-back, but Aurelien Tchouameni is back from a Champions League ban of his own and could slot into Andriy Lunin‘s defensive shield too.
Eder Militao completed 90 minutes against Sociedad, but he is still not quite at 100% following his ACL injury and should make way for Tchouameni, while Fran Garcia and Nacho Fernandez are expected to cede their spots to Mendy and Antonio Rudiger respectively.
A raft of engine room alterations will see Toni Kroos, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga come back into the fold, and Arda Guler‘s winner against Sociedad will not be enough to see him reprise his role over the fit-again Bellingham.
The England international will no doubt be operating just off the Brazilian pairing of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo at the Allianz Arena, as Brahim Diaz and Joselu also relinquish their places in the XI.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Lunin; Vazquez, Rudiger, Tchouameni, Mendy; Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos; Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior
> Click here to see how Bayern Munich could line up for the first leg
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