Ancelotti must decide, the least expected battle between two Real Madrid stars

Real Madrid kicked off the 2023/24 La Liga season with a great performance in a 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at the Nuevo San Mames stadium. There, the team showed that they are motivated and in good shape to compete for the most important titles in Spain and Europe.

Now they will have a new test in the Spanish league: they will play this Saturday against Almeria at the Power Horse Stadium, looking for their second consecutive victory in the tournament. Their rivals, on the other hand, need a good result to recover from the bad debut they had, as they lost 2-0 against Rayo Vallecano at home.

For this match, coach Carlo Ancelotti will have to find solutions for the large number of injured players in the squad. Eder Militao suffered a serious knee injury and will be off the pitch for a long time. He will be replaced by German defender Antonio Rudiger. But there should also be a change in the midfield, as Eduardo Camavinga has physical problems that prevented him from training normally during the week. However, he has been called up and will probably be on the bench.

It is a fact that Federico Valverde, Aurélien Tchuaméni and Jude Bellingham will be part of the starting lineup, so all that remains to be decided is who will play in Camavinga's place. Two stars will compete to get into the starting lineup: Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. Both have been key Real Madrid players for years, but have lost their place this season due to their advanced age.

Is there a third option?

The newspaper As adds a possible plan C to replace Camavinga: Nicolas Paz. The young midfielder has joined the squad this summer and during the tour of friendly matches in America he had a lot of participation. Carlo Ancelotti trusts him and has called him up for the match against Almeria, so this Saturday he could have the chance to make his official debut for Real Madrid.