Official: Real Madrid starting lineup to face Valencia | OneFootball

Real Madrid are set to take on Valencia in about an hour, with Los Blancos looking to keep up with Barcelona at the top of the league table.

However, things have been made difficult by the absence of multiple star players, including Vinicius Jr., Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, three key creative players.

Keeping that in mind, coach Alvaro Arbeloa has made some telling changes from the team that secured a narrow 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano.

Franco Mastantuono has been a key beneficiary of Arbeloa’s arrival and has visibly improved in recent matches. But he starts on the bench, with Arbeloa opting for a front three of Kylian Mbappe, Gonzalo Garcia and Arda Guler.

Kylian Mbappe continues to lead the line for Real Madrid. With key players missing, the onus will be on the Frenchman to score that important goal.

In midfield, Eduardo Camavinga has been dragged from the left-back position and paired alongside Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde to adjust for the missing Bellingham.

Interestingly, with Valverde starting in midfield, Arbeloa has opted for young David Jimenez in the right-back position. He starts alongside Dean Huijsen, Raul Asencio and Alvaro Carreras in the four-man backline, with Thibaut Courtois starting in goal as usual.

Jimenez starting at right-back comes against the backdrop of Trent Alexander-Arnold recently coming back to the squad.