Ancelotti solves a dilemma in the line-up before the rematch. Keep the great Rüdiger or bring back the mainstay Milito?

Carlo Ancelotti has one big dilemma to solve before the rematch against Manchester City. To keep the great Antonio Rüdiger in the line-up, who wiped out Erling Haaland, or to bring back Eder Militao, the mainstay of Real Madrid’s defence?

A lot of pleasant worries Carlo Ancelotti has to deal with before the Champions League semi-final rematch. Although it’s a bit of a dilemma, it’s certainly a more pleasant worry than if it were the other way around.

After all, all three stoppers are available and all in top form. The main stopper duo for the vast majority of the season has been the duo of Eder Militao – David Alaba, the Brazilian defender has maintained a high level of performance throughout the season and not only is he the best stopper of the trio, but we can certainly rank him amongst Real’s best players of the season.

Alaba was injured for quite a large part of the spring, however, he is now ready and played a decent game against the Citizens as well. Most importantly, he cannot be missing from the lineup as he is a calming element.

When Rüdiger and Militao played together, it was often not the same, it was two “fools”, which sometimes resulted in chaos and mistakes. Alaba adds order and calmness to the whole game and defensively.

And then there’s Rüdiger, who has been waiting in line more like the third man all year, but has also played a large chunk of games due to injuries and punishments to his teammates. Possibly shifting Alaba to left-back at some point.

Against the Citizens in the first game, it was Militao, the other time leader of the defence, who couldn’t start due to a yellow card penalty, so Rüdiger took his place. And the German “Zed” gave a fantastic performance, the burly stopper personally defended Erling Haaland and completely erased him.

Who’s going out of the round?

So now Ancelotti has a big dilemma. To sit Rüdiger after such a great performance, when he showed he knows how to take on Haaland, is impossible. At the same time, the Italian strategist will not want to leave his best stopper on the bench either. And risking unsettling the entire defence by leaving out conductor Alaba is also not an option Madrid are sticking to.

So the Spanish media is speculating about the option of Militao and Rüdiger starting at stopper and Alaba moving to left-back. However, this would mean looking for a new post for Eduardo Camaving, who has found his feet at left-back, putting in a terrific performance and incidentally setting up Vinícius’ first goal.

If Ancelotti wanted to move him to midfield, one of the trio of Kroos, Modric, Valverde would have to drop out. It is possible to move Valverde to the right edge of midfield, but that would just leave Rodrygo on the bench again. And that’s still asking for Aurélien Tchouaméni.

Ancelotti may have a long night ahead of him, where he and his colleagues will be thinking of several ways to line up.

Source: Real Madrid