Bellingham, Tchouameni start in a 4-4-2 – How Real Madrid can line up against Barcelona | OneFootball

The biggest match of the La Liga calendar is here as reigning champions Real Madrid take on arch-rivals and current league leaders FC Barcelona in the first El Clasico of the season tonight at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid come into the game on the back of a spirited comeback win over Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League which will have done a world of good for the team’s confidence.

However, Barcelona have been near-unstoppable this season under new manager Hansi Flick and have emerged as one of the best teams in Europe.

So, it will not be an easy task for Carlo Ancelotti & co. to stop the Blaugrana juggernaut, even more so considering that they are without important players like Thibaut Courtois, Rodrygo Goes, Dani Carvajal, and David Alaba.

Ancelotti has changed the shape and formation of the Real Madrid side in the last two matches and there is expected to be another tweak for tonight’s El Clasico at the Bernabeu.

Defence

With Thibaut Courtois out for 2-3 weeks, Andriy Lunin becomes the undisputed starter in goal for Real Madrid. Interestingly, the Ukrainian international has never lost a game against Barcelona (three games, three wins).

Leading up to the game, there was some chatter about Ancelotti utilising Eder Militao as the right-back tonight. But the Real Madrid boss is expected to retain his trust in Lucas Vazquez to continue covering the position in Carvajal’s absence.

As such, Militao will be starting in his natural position at the heart of the defence, where he will be partnered by Antonio Rudiger, tasked with stopping the in-form Robert Lewandowski.

Completing the backline will be Ferland Mendy at left-back, who is in for a huge battle against rising teenage sensation Lamine Yamal.

Midfield

Ancelotti is expected to revert to the diamond midfield setup that earned Real Madrid so much success last season for tonight’s crucial El Clasico.

As such, we can expect Aurelien Tchouameni to return to the starting lineup at the base of the midfield after his surprise omission from the team against Borussia Dortmund.

Modric to start over Camavinga? (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Federico Valverde is a guaranteed starter as one of the two interior midfielders, while captain Luka Modric might edge out Eduardo Camavinga for the second slot.

As for the attacking midfield position, there is simply no doubt about Jude Bellingham starting and there would be no better occasion than a must-win Clasico for the Englishman to open his goalscoring account for the season.

Attack

With Rodrygo ruled out through injury, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. are the obvious starters up top in attack for Real Madrid.

Mbappe boasts an impressive record against Barcelona from his PSG days and will hope to make a big impact on his El Clasico debut. Meanwhile, Vinicius is coming on the back of a match-winning hat-trick against Dortmund.

The duo has what it takes to exploit the high defensive line that Barcelona have deployed under Flick this season.

The returning Brahim Diaz and Arda Guler will be options from the bench, along with Endrick, who has not played any minute in the last three games.