Real Madrid will bring back Casemiro for their Champions League semi-final second leg vs Manchester City but will be without David Alaba, Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed.
Madrid were without injury doubt Casemiro for the first leg at the Etihad as he made the bench, but manager Ancelotti has indicated that the Brazilian midfielder will start the second leg at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, with Real 4-3 down on aggregate.
However, they will definitely be without key centre-back Alaba, who is injured, with Nacho set to replace him at the back as Ancelotti also suggested that his side will not drop deeper in a bid to stop City's attacking threats.
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"I don't have any doubts. Alaba can't play," Ancelotti said.
"I don't have doubts, it will possibly be a long game too but it's not so important who starts as it is who finishes it. The defence system is the same. Alaba is an important player but Nacho's played very well this season. He's experienced and I'm sure he'll put on a good performance tomorrow."
Regarding his midfield options, Ancelotti said of Casemiro: "He'll help us a lot, his return is instrumental in our improvement defensively. Another thing we'll need is a collective commitment from everyone to move better, be more compact with one another. We have worked hard and long on our defence and hopefully will notice improvements tomorrow."
And generally, Ancelotti gave an insight into his tactical preparations against City, saying their first leg approach was the way to go.
"If we play more defensively and bring back our defence line trust me we'll concede even more shots on goal," he said. "In the first game I felt we needed to take chances which we did. Let me remind you when we took chances we scored lots of goals vs PSG, Chelsea and City. We can do that.
"The approach in the first leg was the right one, we need to bring more quality to it, pressurise them. We need to play a very thorough game. We won't be bringing back our defence line but there will be moments we have to play closer to our box. That's what I mean by 'thorough'
"Tomorrow we'll see a great game between two great teams with great players. They're also different teams. Whenever you reach or win a Champions League final, it's not something you can do out of sheer heart and motivation alone. It's an important component but that's not enough. There's individual qualities, it takes a combination of circumstances to win the Champions League.
"If we win tomorrow, it won't be because we're motivated or the magic atmosphere we'll experience. It will be out of collective commitment and individual qualities of our players."
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