Dani Carvajal and Eduardo Camavinga will start, but Aurelien Tchouameni will miss out when Real Madrid and Valencia face off on Wednesday.
Real Madrid will aim to reach the 2022 Supercopa de Espana final when they clash with Valencia at the King Fahd International Stadium on Wednesday evening. And Carlo Ancelotti has a few pivotal figures unavailable for his side’s latest fixture.
David Alaba and Aurelien Tchouameni are not in Saudi Arabia with the rest of the unit after picking up leg injuries against Valencia. Apart from the duo, Ancelotti has picked a strong travelling squad for Supercopa de Espana.
But widespread reports suggest that Ferland Mendy might be unavailable after missing training on Tuesday. While the Frenchman is currently doubtful to feature against Valencia, Ancelotti did not reveal any injury to the left-back during his pre-match press conference. Instead, he talked about the workload on his group.
Ancelotti said, “We’re a bit tight going into it because they’re two games in a short space of time. We need to prepare well in training and put in a good performance against Valencia and try to return home with another trophy. It was predictable that we wouldn’t be at our best at this point in the season. Our training is going well.”
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“Maybe some of them have been affected by the World Cup and we’ll have to wait a bit. We’re still a bit hurt after the Villarreal defeat. Let’s wait and see how the team responds in the Super Cup as it’s a very important test for us. The planning of the physical side isn’t as long now because there are so many games and not much time to rest. It has to be managed differently.”
Despite the reports about Mendy’s potential absence, we predict the Frenchman to start as the left-back. But if he is unavailable, Lucas Vazquez or Eduardo Camavinga might come in as a makeshift left-back. Meanwhile, Dani Carvajal is fit and available. And the Spaniard will return as the right-back.
In Alaba’s absence, Antonio Rudiger and Eder Militao pick themselves to form the central defensive pairing. Nacho and Jesus Vallejo will be backup centre-backs for Ancelotti. The backline will protect Thibaut Courtois, an automatic selection between the sticks.
The crucial decision for Ancelotti is identifying Tchouameni’s replacement. And Camavinga should sit at the base of the midfield unit. The young Frenchman will join Toni Kroos and Luka Modric in the middle of the park. So Dani Ceballos will be a backup option for Ancelotti in midfield.
As for the offensive unit, Federico Valverde, Karim Benzema, and Vinicius Junior should retain their spots. Ancelotti usually selects the trio for the biggest games. So Rodrygo Goes will be on the bench alongside Marco Asensio and Eden Hazard.
Predicted Real Madrid XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Mendy; Modric, Camavinga, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius
