Key Real Madrid star will return to his natural position against Valencia | OneFootball

On Sunday, Real Madrid will square off against Valencia away at Mestalla in La Liga, aiming to stay close to league leaders Barcelona.

Leading up to the game, Alvaro Arbeloa has received some positive fitness updates as Trent Alexander-Arnold is back from injury and ready to start.

Antonio Rudiger, too, could be back, based on how things go in the training sessions today and tomorrow.

Federico Valverde moves back to midfield

Sunday’s game will also see Real Madrid second captain Federico Valverde return to his natural position in midfield after playing regularly at right-back, reports AS.

The experiments are over and the Uruguayan international will return to the position that best suits his quality and footballing attributes against Valencia.

Valverde has openly stated his preferences when it comes to where he feels most comfortable on the pitch. But injuries and other circumstances have prevented him from playing in his natural role in recent months. That is now set to change.

Back to playing in his preferred role. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

The recovery of several players will allow Arbeloa to field a more logical and balanced starting XI at Mestalla, one that better reflects the characteristics of his squad.

With Dani Carvajal back available for some weeks now and Trent returning to the squad, the coach has decided to reshuffle his line-up and place Valverde back in midfield.

He is expected to line up alongside Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni, forming what Arbeloa hopes will be Real Madrid’s first-choice midfield.

In this way, Valverde returns to the role where he feels like a complete footballer. At no point has he questioned his coaches’ decisions, and as always, his commitment has never been in doubt.

With Arbeloa, the guiding principle is clear: every player should operate in the position that earned them their place at Real Madrid.

As such, apart from moving Valverde back to midfield from right-back, Camavinga will also resituate to his natural position after playing at left-back in the last game. Moreover, the manager also plans to keep Tchouameni away from the centre-back position.