Real Madrid welcome Girona to the Santiago Bernabeu within the Spanish prime flight on Sunday afternoon.
Carlo Ancelotti’s level-headedness is famous. But the Real Madrid coach got here uncharacteristically near displaying a flicker of anger when the prospect of gamers prioritising their worldwide facet to membership duties was raised.
“If our players are worried of getting injured before the World Cup?” he parrotted again. “Listen, if you don’t want to get injured, you can stay at home on the sofa.”
Here’s the XI Ancelotti might deploy which can be prepared to threat their health forward of the sports-washing showpiece.
GK: Thibaut Courtois – Never one to carry his tongue, Courtois took it upon himself to chastise his “asleep” teammates after Madrid’s defeat to RB Leipzig final week.
RB: Dani Carvajal – During his apprenticeship yr at Bayer Leverkusen, Carvajal helped Die Werkself to 3rd and was included in BILD’s staff of the season, studying “a lot as a person” in addition to a participant.
CB: Eder Militao – With Militao now a Spanish citizen, Madrid have three non-EU spots within the squad out there, maybe making manner for sure Brazilian youngsters catching the attention.
CB: David Alaba – When the Italian coach took cost of Alaba and co at Bayern Munich, the defender mentioned: “As for Carlo Ancelotti: we don’t need to speak much about him, just look at his CV.” Six years on, the pair have bolstered their honours checklist collectively in Madrid.
LB: Ferland Mendy – Ancelotti was supervisor of Paris Saint-Germain’s senior facet whereas Mendy was scuffling with damage within the membership’s academy a decade in the past.
CM: Luka Modric – The Croatian maestro grew up within the village of Zaton Obrovacki however his cousins lived simply down the highway within the fittingly named hamlet, Modrici.
CM: Aurelien Tchouameni – While he was nonetheless a youngster, his father publicly in contrast Tchouameni to Paul Pogba. The pair of midfielders would go on to be worldwide teammates with the senior man describing it as an “honour to play with him”.
CM: Eduardo Camavinga – The 19-year-old is one in all simply three gamers to have featured in each Real Madrid match this season.
RW: Marco Asensio – Left on the sidelines for a lot of the season whereas his contract state of affairs stays unsure, Asensio was afforded his first begin in midweek within the absence of Fede Valverde.
ST: Rodrygo – Throughout his profession, Rodrygo has made little wagers together with his father concerning his efficiency on the pitch. “It’s one of our inside jokes since I was little,” he explains. “It motivates me.”
LW: Vinicius Junior – According to the Spanish every day AS Vinicius had the third-lowest wage (forward of Andriy Lunin and Jesus Vallejo) in the complete Real Madrid squad earlier than his new deal final summer time.