Real Madrid coach to experiment with defensive options amid injury crisis – report | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s situation in defence is far from all right. Injury after injury has left the department crippled and Carlo Ancelotti in a dilemma over his selections.

David Alaba is not expected to return to action until January, over one year after his initial injury, while Daniel Carvajal’s latest ACL blow is season-ending.

Adding the fragile situation of Eder Militao who is suffering regular injuries this season to that list and the manager is left with only Antonio Rudiger and Jesus Vallejo as his fit centre-backs of whom he does not count much on the latter.

Experiments in play

Struggling for option in defence, the Real Madrid manager will thus resort to experimentation in the coming part of the campaign as revealed by Mundo Deportivo.

Ancelotti has to cope with Carvajal’s absence. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

In central defence, Aurelien Tchouameni is best placed to step in if need be as he has done several times this season already.

“Obviously, I prefer to be in the middle, but I always try to give my best,” Tchouameni said in a recent interview, making it clear that he is ready to play out of position if the manager asks it of him this season.

With new problems cropping up in the full-back departments, moreover, he could well be forced to turn to either Eduardo Camavinga or Federico Valverde to fill in.

As it stands, Los Blancos have no plans of making any signings in the winter transfer market and hope to make the best use of existing resources to pull through the season.

The pecking order, however, is set as the manager will count on first-team players played out of position first and only thereafter turn towards academy resources. Nothing beyond that will be considered, at least as it stands.