Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Real Madrid could line up for Saturday’s La Liga clash with Real Betis.
A departing Real Madrid legend will play his final La Liga game for the club on Saturday, when the champions host Real Betis at the Bernabeu in their closing league fixture.
The long-serving Toni Kroos has announced that he will retire from professional football after the Euros this summer and therefore only has two games left in the iconic white strip, which he will don for the last time in June’s Champions League final.
Kroos will therefore be one of a plethora of big-hitters to return to Carlo Ancelotti‘s starting lineup here, after the Italian made an expected raft of alterations for last weekend’s 4-4 thriller with Villarreal.
Federico Valverde should be just one of two men to reprise their roles from that incredible stalemate, as Kroos and Eduardo Camavinga replace Dani Ceballos and Luka Modric, who is expected to sign a new one-year deal rather than follow in Kroos’s footsteps.
Arda Guler‘s stock rose with a brace versus Villarreal, in which Joselu also struck his 10th league goal of the campaign, but Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo are now primed to return to the final third alongside Jude Bellingham, demoting Brahim Diaz to the bench.
Antonio Rudiger should be the only other player to hold his place in the first XI, as Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez – also set to play his final La Liga match for the champions – complete the defensive barrier in front of the recalled Thibaut Courtois.
Only David Alaba (ACL) and Aurelien Tchouameni (foot) are sidelined for Los Blancos, but the latter has not given up hope of being fit for the Champions League final.
Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Courtois; Carvajal, Rudiger, Nacho, Mendy; Valverde, Camavinga, Kroos; Bellingham; Rodrygo, Vinicius Junior
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