Real Madrid News
Official: Real Madrid squad list against Atletico Madrid
Coming off an intense tie against Liverpool in the Champions League, Real Madrid will turn their attention towards Atletico Madrid as the fixtures continue to come hard and fast for the defending European champions.
There are a fair few absences from the host’s list, though. David Alaba suffered a hamstring knock vs Pool at Anfield, and is ruled out for nearly a month. He will also likely miss both Copa del Rey games against Barcelona.
Elsewhere, Rodrygo also picked up a muscle injury in the Champions League and is out for nearly a fortnight. While he is expected to be out for the Atletico Madrid and Barcelona games, the Brazilian could make it back in time for the second leg vs Liverpool.
In better news, though, Aurelien Tchouameni has returned to the squad list after missing out on the last two games. The Frenchman has been suffering from injuries since after the World Cup, which has given a path to Eduardo Camavinga for a place in defensive midfield.
Real Madrid Castilla player Alvaro Rodriguez has also received the call-up, while Eden Hazard and Mariano Diaz are also among forwards named in the team.
📋✅ Our squad for the match 🆚 @atletienglish!#RealMadridAtleti pic.twitter.com/p5RHU4gGKP
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) February 24, 2023
In what could be a real deal breaker for Real Madrid ahead of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona, it has been revealed that as many as three Barça will be absent from the game while another key player remains a major doubt.
The list includes the likes of Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Andreas Christensen. The trio is certain to miss the game through respective injuries while a certain Frenkie de Jong is more or less ruled out, as per Javi Miguel.
It must be remembered that Barcelona are heading into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage. But the absence of the aforementioned players means Madrid can work on exploiting the frailties.
Despite the absence of such big names, Barcelona did pretty well against Elche in their previous outing, coming out 4-0 victorious, with the goals coming from Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres.
With options lacking in midfield, Xavi decided to use the likes of Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia along with Gavi in the heart of the lineup. In any way, they do have Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie as backups if needed.
The defence, on the other hand, was perfectly guarded by Jordi Alba, Marcos Alonso, Ronald Araujo and Jules Kounde.
One can expect Xavi to once again interchange Araujo with Kounde on the right since the Uruguayan has been rather successful in minimizing the threat of Vinicius Jr.
As far as Madrid are concerned, they are sweating over the fitness of three key defenders, namely, Antonio Rudiger, Nacho, and Ferland Mendy. Between these three, the Frenchman is out for about a month while Rudiger and Nacho are expected to be back before the Clasico.
If there are no casualties against Real Valladolid, Madrid will have a perfect midfield and attack, with only Mariano Diaz missing.
