Carvajal, Tchouameni start in a 4-4-2 – How Real Madrid can line up against Alaves | OneFootball

After four games without a win across all competition, Real Madrid will be hoping to bounce back when they host Deportivo Alaves in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu tonight.

The Merengues have been in wretched form since the end of the international break, first losing to RCD Mallorca in La Liga, before suffering a home defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

A draw against Girona did little to improve their situation in the league, leaving them nine points behind Barcelona in the title race.

While Real Madrid showed fight and put up a largely improved performance in the reverse fixture vs Bayern last week, they still lost 4-3, getting eliminated from Europe.

This is Los Blancos’ worst run of results since they went five matches without a win in 2018 during the ill-fated reign of Julen Lopetegui. And, Alvaro Arbeloa & co. will be hoping to correct course tonight against Alaves, who are 17th in the league standings.

Real Madrid go into tonight’s game with only three absentees – Rodrygo Goes, Thibaut Courtois, and Raul Asencio. There are expected to be some changes to the team that started in Munich last week.

Defence

With Courtois still unavailable, Andriy Lunin is set to continue between the sticks for Real Madrid and the Ukrainian will be in search of a rare clean sheet.

Meanwhile, there could be a few of alterations at the back, with captain Dani Carvajal expected to come in at right-back, giving Trent Alexander-Arnold a break. With this expected to be his final season at the club, Carvajal will want to sign off strongly.

The captain to start. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

At the heart of the defence, Antonio Rudiger could use some rest, making way for Dean Huijsen to return to the starting XI. The young Spaniard will partner up with Eder Militao, who has been in good nick since returning from injury.

On the left side of the Real Madrid defence, Alvaro Carreras could reclaim his place in the side ahead of Ferland Mendy, who made his comeback from injury against Bayern Munich.

Midfield

Real Madrid sorely missed the presence of Aurelien Tchouameni against Bayern Munich last week as he was unavailable through suspension for accumulation of cards.

Back available for tonight’s game, the French international will reclaim his rightful place in the middle of the park for the Merengues.

Partnering Tchouameni in the centre of the park is likely to be Arda Guler, who was one of Real Madrid’s brightest sparks last week, scoring a brace at the Allianz Arena.

Federico Valverde, who started in the holding midfield role in Tchouameni’s absence, will move to his usual spot on the right side of the midfield four, while Jude Bellingham could be stationed on the left, from where he will look to veer in centrally.

Attack

Up top, there is no looking past the megastar duo of Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr., both of whom will be eager to bounce back strongly from the Champions League elimination.

For Mbappe, in particular, there is the added motivation of retaining his lead in the Pichichi Trophy race, as Vedat Muriqi is only two goals behind him.