Real Madrid News
Real Madrid mainstay turned down Juventus before Bernabeu move, reveals agent
Eder Militao has become an undisputed starter under Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the likes of Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba. At the young age of 25, he has shown immense maturity and calmness to lead the Real Madrid backline from the front.
He moved to Madrid in 2019 from FC Porto for a fee of €50 million. In addition to being a key pillar for the European champions, he also has 27 caps for the Brazilian national team and has scored once for his country.
The Brazilian has started 19 La Liga games for the Merengues so far this season and has scored three goals in the process. He has overseen five clean sheets and averages over 11 defensive actions per game. Needless to say, he is one the club count on for the next decade.
The centre-back’s agent Ulisses Jorge spoke to AS recently and highlighted some behind-the-scenes stories around his client’s move to Real Madrid. The agent first highlighted the love Militao had for the crest and his commitment to the club.
“Real Madrid will be Éder’s home for many years, the club is delighted with him & he’s very happy there,” he said.
He then went on to elaborate on the various options that the defender had on the table, and subsequently rejected, to make the move to Santiago Bernabeu.
“When Militão was at Porto, he had the possibility of joining Juventus but he chose Real Madrid. With all due respect to them, I think he made the right choice. He’s now a pillar of the team.”
Militao is expected to start Real Madrid’s game against Barcelona tomorrow at the Santiago Bernabeu and will be crucial if the Merengues are to secure a strong lead in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals.
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.
