Three talking points ahead of Kairat Almaty vs Real Madrid | UEFA Champions League | OneFootball

Real Madrid’s winning streak came to a shocking halt this past weekend in the derby when Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid side tore them apart ruthlessly and took all three points.

Still wounded and recovering from the result, however, Los Blancos have simply no respite as they have now travelled to Kazakhstan for their next game in the UEFA Champions League, an early kickoff against Kairat Almaty.

The Kazakh club is only the second team from their nation to ever qualify for the premier European competition and they are in their maiden UEFA Champions League campaign.

Drawing Real Madrid, needless to say, was a dream come true for many of the players in the team, and their reaction after the draw said a lot about what it meant to them. Tomorrow, their dream comes true.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Kairat Almaty vs Real Madrid.

The aftermath of a collapse

The Madrid derby was always expected to be a close battle, especially given the money both neighbouring clubs had spent in the summer to fortify their squads.

A 5-2 humbling, however, is something no one saw coming and it is safe to say Real Madrid were taken to the cleaners and left red-faced.

Xabi Alonso’s men entered the game as one of Europe’s most in-form teams but left the Riyadh Air Metropolitano not only having lost their winning streak but being humiliated in grand style.

Needless to say, the result would have left the locker room traumatised, given that it came completely out of the blue and Alonso will thus have a massive task in keeping the dressing room together.

Over the past few years, Los Blancos have not had similar lows but Carlo Ancelotti has always had the right setup to ensure players do not ponder on the past and move on unfazed. It will be critical to see if Alonso has the same effect on the squad.

The right-back crisis

Both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dani Carvajal are injured. (Photo by Mateo Villalba Sanchez/Getty Images)

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury earlier this month placed the player out till November, and the situation appeared set for Dani Carvajal to return to the role of a regular starter and put a strong foot in Xabi Alonso’s plans.

The latter, however, went down injured during the Madrid derby and is now expected to be out of action for close to a month. Real Madrid, thus, no longer has a starting right-back in their squad.

Xabi Alonso now stares a very tricky situation in the eye as he must identify a new player to count on as a regular in a foreign position and he does not have too many candidates to pick from.

Raul Asencio, who played at right-back after Carvajal’s substitution in the derby, is an option to continue in the department but his relative lack of form does not assure him the role.

The name of Federico Valverde thus sounds loud in the Spanish capital, especially given how he was Carlo Ancelotti’s preferred option in big games last season at right-back.

Other potential options include Alvaro Carreras, David Alaba, and youngster David Jimenez, all of whom bring their own set of pros and cons. Alonso’s decision over who will take over at right-back, needless to say, is critical not just for tomorrow but the coming month.

Distance and fatigue

Kairat Almaty’s making it to the UEFA Champions League itself was a miracle and the players of the Kazakhstan-based club were understandably stoked to have drawn Real Madrid at home.

Going purely based on strength, the clash should be a walk in the park for Los Blancos but it is now turning out to be one of the team’s most difficult fixtures of the season owing to external factors.

The travel to Kazakhstan itself, to start with, is a major problem for Real Madrid as the flight is a staggering eight hours, making it a long and tiring journey to even get to the venue.

Further, there is a three-hour time difference between Spain and the match venue, making it all the more difficult to adapt to the new setting and match-timing.

All that, coupled with the fact that the climate in Almaty is dry and cold, makes it complicated for Real Madrid to bring their best game to the fixture, especially given that they have had hardly any rest after the Madrid derby that ended in heartbreak.