Real Madrid go into the crucial game against PSG without Casemiro and Mendy. What line-up will they field?

D-Day for Real Madrid is here. The royal club will challenge PSG in a rematch of the Champions League semi-finals and there is seemingly more at stake than meets the eye. But Carlo Ancelotti cannot count on two key players in the starting line-up. Which starting eleven will he send out on the pitch?

In La Liga, Real Madrid are aiming for the title, the only one who can keep up with them is Sevilla. But even they are 8 points behind, so anything other than a May title celebration in Cibeles Square would be a big surprise.

But Real Madrid is the biggest club of them all and will not be satisfied with a mere domestic league title. It wants to regularly dominate the Champions League, which it has historically dominated, as evidenced by a record 13 titles.

And to be knocked out in the eighth round, especially with the hated PSG? That would bite hard in the Valdebebas offices. But before the rematch, the Italian strategist has a restless sleep. Because of the yellow card stoppage, he cannot count on Casemiro and Ferland Mendy, the two pillars of the starting line-up.

On top of that, Toni Kroos was injured and it looked as if he would not be involved in the game until the weekend. However, his treatment has been accelerated, but Ancelotti has stated that he will only start if he is 100%. If he is 95% ready, he will not play.

So Federico Valverde will probably go into the centre of midfield, but he also didn’t play at the weekend due to injury, but he should be ready. Eduardo Camavinga, who played a great game against Real Sociedad at the weekend and scored a wonderful goal from distance, is also a possibility.

It is the centre of midfield that is the big topic. Modric and Kroos are perfect for keeping control of the game, it’s just that in the first game they were beaten by Real’s overly defensive tactics and didn’t get much of the ball. There has been a lot of criticism in Spain of Ancelotti that with these tactics he should have sent in more mobile, aggressive players (Valverde, Camavinga) who relish breakout situations.

The absence of Casemiro will force the 62-year-old Italian to get at least one youngster into the game, perhaps the absence of Kroos would send the second-ranked Camavinga to the Santiago Bernabéu turf as well.

Mendy will be 90% replaced by Nacho. Although Ancelotti has a natural replacement in Marcelo, the Brazilian veteran is already more like a non-playing captain, his speed is no longer enough even for teams at the bottom of the La Liga table, let alone Mbappé with Messi and Neymar.

So there’s just one little thing left to sort out, and that’s whether Nacho will line up directly at left-back or go at full-back, with David Alaba moving to the left. It’s a more natural position for him, he started out at Bayern, but Ancelotti doesn’t want to tear up the functional stopper duo with Milito and so when Nacho comes on, he’ll usually be the left-back. It’s just that Los Blancos have to attack, so it would make sense for the more offensive and left-footed Alaba to come on the flank.

Real Madrid’s likely line-up:

Courtois
Carvajal – Militao – Nacho – Alaba
Valverde – Modric – Kroos/Camavinga
Asensio – Benzema – Vinícius

Source:: Real Madrid, UEFA