Yahoo Sports Real Madrid facing a defensive nightmare as UCL beckons
It is only the start of the 2024-25 season, and injury problems are already piling up for Real Madrid. The Merengues saw two of their key players, Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois go down with long-term injuries at the start of the last season, while David Alaba also suffered a torn ACL later in the season, and has still not returned to training.
Meanwhile, the Merengues saw four of their players go down with injuries only in the last week, as Dani Ceballos, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Ferland Mendy were all injured in the match against Real Betis.
Eduardo Camavinga and Jude Bellingham had also been sidelined with injuries in the first few days of the season, and Eder Militao joined these injured players in the infirmary as he suffered a muscle injury while training with the Brazilian national team.
With all these absences, Carlo Ancelotti is left with a very depleted centre of the defence, especially as Nacho also left the club at the end of the last season. As MARCA has noted, Carlo Ancelotti will have only one first-team centre-back available after the end of this international break, Antonio Rudiger.
The Merengues recognised that this area could be a weak point for the team going forward and were determined to fix this issue. However, Nacho’s departure from the club at the end of the season caught them off-guard as they were counting on him to stay for another season at the club.
To mitigate the issue, Real Madrid went all in to sign the French centre-back Leny Yoro. The Merengues believed he would be the perfect addition to their backline, but the defender joined Manchester United and Los Blancos had no Plan B.
Further trials awaited Real Madrid as Carlo Ancelotti decided to bet on a youth player, Joan Martinez, in such a situation. The youngster impressed in the preseason tour of the USA, but then suffered a serious injury on 9th August. The responsibility to fill in the first-team backline has now fallen on Jacobo Ramon’s shoulders.
There are two more problems for Ancelotti in this position. First, Alaba’s recovery is going quite slow, and he is unlikely to return soon to full fitness. Similarly, the third centre-back option, Aurelien Tchouameni is also injured ahead of a crucial phase of the season when the UCL starts for Real Madrid.
