Real Madrid News
Mourinho’s injury-prevention plan: The four players Real Madrid are building around
Jose Mourinho has settled on his insurance policy for the season, and it is not about star power. Rather, it is about survival.
According to a report from Defensa Central, the Real Madrid manager has identified a specific group of players, namely, Eduardo Camavinga, Alvaro Carreras, Brahim Diaz and new arrival Yan Diomande, as the players he intends to lean on to keep his squad fresh and competitive across a demanding 2026/27 campaign.
As per the outlet, this is supposed to be a direct response to a problem that has haunted Real Madrid for the best part of two seasons.
What’s the story?
It must be remembered that Real Madrid have recorded more than a hundred injuries since 2024, a run of fitness setbacks that has disrupted team continuity and forced coaches into reactive squad management.
Mourinho, by contrast, appears intent on getting ahead of it.
That thinking was already visible against Malaga, where Real Madrid ran out 4-0 winners after Mourinho made five changes to his starting XI from the previous game against Real Sociedad.
Notably, it was not a one-off selection call. It looked like a preview of how he plans to manage the campaign.
As such, the likes of Camavinga and Brahim Diaz offer Mourinho midfield and attacking cover from already established players, while Carreras and Diomande represent something slightly different: dependable rotation options who can also push senior starters for their place.
Diomande, still adapting after his move to the club, currently operates from the bench, but his profile is exactly what Mourinho wants in reserve.
Mourinho counts on everyone
Carreras has become one of the more significant developments of Real Madrid’s start to the season.
He is now viewed as a genuine alternative at left-back, competing directly with Cucurella for minutes rather than simply deputising when needed.
That kind of internal competition is precisely what Mourinho is trying to build across the pitch.
Diomande’s role speaks to a different concern: protecting Madrid’s attacking output.
His profile going forward gives Mourinho a way to manage the physical workload of his main forwards without a significant drop in attacking threat.
Put together, it is a direct answer to the injury numbers that have piled up since 2024, and an attempt to stop fatigue-related fitness issues from deciding Madrid’s season before it reaches its most important stretch.
Real Madrid’s adventure so far under new coach Jose Mourinho has been far from perfect and this fact shouldn’t be lost even after the team’s brilliant comeback win over AS Roma in midweek.
However, there are areas where Los Blancos have shown a clear improvement under Mourinho, when compared to previous bosses such as Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.
One of those areas has been set plays, with Real Madrid appearing far more potent from set pieces this season.
A clear improvement from last season
As reported by Diario AS, the three goals in Rome, all from Arda Guler corners inside a seven-minute blitz, were the perfect advert for the work being done at Valdebebas.
Those strikes took Real Madrid’s set-piece tally to seven goals in just ten matches this season. Four of them have come in La Liga, one from a corner and three from free kicks, with the trio in Rome completing the haul.
It is a striking figure when set against last season’s return. Under Alonso and Arbeloa, Madrid managed 12 set-piece goals across the entire campaign, all in La Liga, split evenly between six from corners and six from free kicks.
On current trends, this side looks well placed to surpass that number comfortably.
The reason behind Real Madrid’s improvement
Attacking set pieces are led at Valdebebas by Pedro Machado, with the whole coaching staff involved and Mourinho himself giving the final green light on every routine.
Defending them, meanwhile, falls to Sami Khedira, though it is treated as a collective effort. Mourinho’s appreciation of that teamwork was clear when Bellingham headed in a Guler free kick against Espanyol, prompting the manager to leap up and embrace his assistants.
Machado, one of Mourinho’s most trusted lieutenants, has followed him from Fenerbahce to Benfica and now Madrid, part of a backroom team blending experience with young, ambitious talent.
On the pitch, Guler is the undisputed master when available, his left foot the key weapon, with Bernardo Silva, Trent Alexander-Arnold and even Diomande also trusted to initiate attacks.
Such meticulous strategy has helped Real Madrid turn into a potent side from set-pieces this season.
