Real Madrid were riding high after another big win in La Liga, following up a 4-0 bounce-back victory over Osasuna with a gritty 3-0 win over Leganes, with Vinicius Junior playing a starring role as a striker in Carlo Ancelotti’s latest ploy to coax better performances out of blockbuster signing Kylian Mbappe.
Vinicius Jr. created the opener for Mbappe, maneuvering his way into the six-yard-box so that the Frenchman would have an easy tap-in, but the real Vini headline after the match was a less positive one.
Real Madrid already lost their best center back, Eder Militao, during the win over Osasuna, and now this match against Leganes has costed them their best overall player in Vini Jr.
The Brazilian winger will be out for around a month with a muscular injury, ruling him out of this Wednesday’s big Champions League matchup against Liverpool, with Real Madrid having lost their last two big matches against Barcelona and AC Milan by a combined scoreline of 7-1.
Let’s take a look at how Real Madrid should line up going forward with the Ballon d’Or candidate out for a few more weeks.
GK Thibaut Courtois
Thibaut Courtois is the obvious starter in goal and still very much the best player in the world at his position.
LB Fran Garcia
Ferland Mendy is a tempting start against certain opponents, such as, say, Liverpool with elite right winger Mohamed Salah, because Mendy is such a good defensive left back when it comes to marking wingers.
However, Mendy doesn’t move the ball at all offensively, and that’s going to hamstring the team, especially since Kylian Mbappe needs an overlapping fullback more than Vinicius Jr. does since the Frenchman inverts more and isn’t as devastating in one-on-ones.
Fran is the best bet against most opponents.
CB Antonio Rudiger
Antonio Rudiger is the only nailed-on starter in the back four right now with Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao both done for the season after tearing their ACLs, and it isn’t an exaggeration to say that this defense will go as Rudiger does.
He can go from taking the best pure striker in the world, Erling Haaland, out of the game entirely, and then he can drop a disasterclass where he makes a hat trick of errors to gift the game to the opponent on a silver platter.
CB Raul Asencio
Real Madrid often unearth their next homegrown legends when they are forced to actually play their talented Castilla prospects out of necessity, and Raul Asencio looks like the man to watch after Joan Martinez’s preseason injury.
Raul had quite the debut against Osasuna before the November international fixtures, and he was quite good against Leganes, too. So far, he’s been about as good as Rudiger.
RB Lucas Vazquez
Lucas Vazquez is probably too dicey of a call to return against Liverpool on Wednesday night, but it won’t be long until the Galician wide man is back to being available for Carlo Ancelotti.
There isn’t a better option than Vazquez at right back, because Fede’s talents are very obviously wasted on the right side of the defense, even if you want to argue that he’s equivalent to Vazquez, at worst, at right back.
DM Eduardo Camavinga
Aurelien Tchouameni’s injury has given the starting defensive midfield job right back to Eduardo Camavinga, whose improvement in the No. 6 role began after a benching during the halftime of a Supercup blowout in the 2022/23 season.
Since then, Camavinga has matured in his reading of the game at the position, learning, as Casemiro did, when to go in for his trademark crunching tackles and when to instead maintain structure for the team.
RCM Fede Valverde
Fede Valverde is a must-start for Real Madrid wherever he happens to play, because he offers everything from ball-winning to creativity and smashing goals, such as the one he blasted against Leganes this weekend.
LCM Luka Modric
Carlo Ancelotti should tweak the formation to give Arda Guler minutes and even utilize Endrick up top, too, but Real Madrid are in need of wins in every game right now, especially after blowing six points in the title race to Barcelona with their embarrassing 4-0 El Clasico loss.
So the veteran stabilization of Luka Modric must be called upon, especially in pivotal big-game fixtures like the one against Liverpool. Modric has been solid again in La Liga this season despite settling into a reduced role with more bench appearances than starts, and he does have two assists to his name this season.
For Croatia, Modric has been able to shine even more as the best player in the Nations League alongside Viktor Gyokeres, and Real Madrid need to make use of that well-roundedness and veteran guile.
AM Jude Bellingham
Jude Bellingham had as good of a Ballon d’Or case as Vinicius Junior last season, and he has a way of elevating Real Madrid when they need it most. Without Vini Jr. providing that same game-changing ability in the clutch and on the big stage, Bellingham is the one who will have to step up, just as he did in the first half of the 2023/24 season and during the Euros for England.
The No. 10 role suits Jude perfectly, as he has become the quintessential modern playmaker with his eye for goal, high footballing intelligence, and underrated creativity.
FW Kylian Mbappe
Carlo Ancelotti is moving the rest of the team around to help Kylian Mbappe, which, on the surface, seems to flatter him as the priority player in the side, but what it really does is show you how poor he’s been that Real Madrid are basically having to baby him in order to get something from him.
Mbappe can only score penalties and “gimme” goals that others set up for him, but now that Vinicius Jr. is out, this is Mbappe’s time to shine and prove that he is better than the stagnating PSG “graduate” that he appears to be at Real Madrid.
Ancelotti should have a very low threshold to bench Mbappe in light of his subpar performances that are not coincidentally related to Real’s sudden failure to get the job done on the big stage.
FW Endrick
Arda Guler and Brahim Diaz would be candidates to start on the right wing with Endrick at striker and Mbappe on the left wing, but Carlo will probably only want to start one young player instead of two, given his proclivity towards trusting veterans.
Rodrygo Goes is still a few weeks away from returning from his own injury, so a two-striker tandem of Rodrygo and Mbappe will have to be shelved until then. In the meantime, this is a prime opportunity for Endrick to start, and, in reality, there are many fans and people around Real Madrid who believe Carlo should have given Endrick chances over Mbappe these past few weeks.
Endrick has been brilliant whenever called upon off the bench, as he is very wise for his age – possibly because he is an old soul who worships Bobby Charlton (and may or may not be an industry plant who played in that era).
Memes aside, Endrick could be the X-Factor Real Madrid are looking for as they attempt to weather a very rough storm without, quite literally, their two best forwards. Perhaps Endrick can displace Mbappe and become one of “their three best forwards”. We shall see.
