Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has again gone back on his word regarding the goalkeeping position, with Chelsea loanee Kepa Arrizabalaga and Andriy Lunin battling it out for the number one spot.
After Thibaut Courtois was ruled out for the majority of the season, Kepa was loaned in from Chelsea, and was presumed the default starter. That was the case for his first couple of months in Madrid, but a muscle injury kept him out for the best part of a month, and Lunin performed well in his absence.
Ancelotti had declared that Kepa would return to the starting XI after that injury though, and yet Lunin continued to play, before Kepa made a brief return. Before the Christmas break, Ancelotti had told the press that he would make a decision over that period on who would be the permanent number one. Ahead of their return to action against Real Mallorca, Ancelotti confirmed Lunin would start.
“Kepa has had the flu, he has not trained in recent days and therefore Lunin is playing.”
The Italian manager clarified that he felt it would be unfair to choose a number one currently.
“I haven’t made the decision, because both of them make me doubt [it]. It is not correct for either of them that I say at this moment the starting goalkeeper. In each game I am going to choose the goalkeeper that gives me the most confidence.”
It’s rare for top clubs to have a competition for the goalkeeping spot go unresolved, let alone at this stage of the season. Ancelotti appears to have confidence that it will get the best out of them though, and certainly that has been the case with Lunin thus far. Generally goalkeepers enjoy the security of being guaranteed their place the following match, but perhaps Ancelotti feels that Lunin and/or Kepa are better when they have pressure.
