Carlo Ancelotti has already named one Real Madrid player who will start against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening in Champions League action. Los Blancos made six changes to the starting team for the La Liga clash away at Cadiz from the first leg against Chelsea with Luka Modric, Vinicius Jr and Toni Kroos among the notable names to miss out.
The Blues also adopted a similar approach with Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante as the experienced duo were left out of the weekend matchday squad. Both have just recovered from injury problems which also likely contributed to their omission, and with a season-defining clash arriving just four days later, Frank Lampard's decision to rest seems the most logical.
Unfortunately, that decision did not pay off in the same way Ancelotti's did. While Madrid beat Cadiz 2-0, the Blues suffered their third consecutive loss at the hands of Brighton. Kante and Silva are expected to be back for the second leg with no fresh injury concerns.
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Injury problems have also been plaguing Madrid with first-choice left-back Ferland Mendy set to miss the second leg. The Frenchman had been dealing with a hamstring problem since January and subsequently suffered a fresh calf injury at the end of March in his return match against Barcelona.
His absence has seen Eduardo Camavinga slot in on the left of the back four and perform admirably despite being a central midfielder. The 20-year-old was also missing from Ancelotti's weekend starting XI as Nacho was deployed in his place, and the Spaniard marked his appearance by scoring Madrid's opening goal in the 72nd minute with Asensio doubling their lead four minutes later.
Despite Nacho's positive display, Ancelotti has already confirmed he won't be retaining his place at left-back. When asked about his favoured starting team and if Camavinga will continue playing as a full-back, he said: "Starting XI is difficult to say. One day I can think I have the starting XI.
"The next day someone who doesn't play much can come in have a good game and change your ideas. The squad changes my idea a lot. Just an XI is not giving respect to the other players who are not playing a lot but are still doing well. Camavinga is ok. Do you want me to tell you if he will be playing left back? Yes he will."
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