A big problem that Carlo Ancelotti has had to deal with this season has been injuries. Real Madrid have been plagued by regular setbacks over the course of the campaign, and especially in central defence.
Eder Militao has been out since last summer after tearing his ACL, and he won’t return for another month at least, with David Alaba also absent for the remainder of the season after suffering the same injury back in December. That has left Antonio Rudiger and Nacho Fernandez as Los Blancos’ only centre-backs, and even they have had injury woes.
Rudiger has been out for the last two weeks with a thigh injury, while Nacho also missed the victory over Girona last weekend. That forced Ancelotti into playing Aurelien Tchouameni and Dani Carvajal as centre-backs, which worked as they were both excellent against the Catalan high-flyers.
In the case of Tchouameni, he has filled in at centre-back on multiple occasions this season, and each time he has impressed. Marca note that Real Madrid have not conceded in 396 minutes when he has played in a deeper role, which included Tuesday night’s victory over RB Leipzig.
It’s become clear of late that Tchouameni has performed much better than Nacho at centre-back, and with Rudiger coming back soon, Ancelotti would probably be better served partnering the French and German together, which Nacho being relegated to the bench. However, given that Tchouameni doesn’t want to continually play in defence, it could mean that an uncomfortable situation arises at Real Madrid.
