Three talking points ahead of Athletic Club vs Real Madrid | La Liga MD 38 | OneFootball

Real Madrid will take to the field for the final time this season tonight, and it will be against Athletic Club de Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabeu.

With the league title already decided, not much rides on the game or the eventual result, but the match will still bear significance as it represents the end of several chapters at the club.

The last time Athletic Club locked horns against Real Madrid this season, Los Blancos ran away with a 3-0 win away from home.

Given that the Basque side are not enjoying their best moment in terms of form, especially with just one win in their last five games, Real Madrid will look to capitalise on their chance to finish the season strong tomorrow. 

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Madrid vs Athletic Club de Bilbao.

Farewell to the stalwarts

Carvajal will play his final game for Real Madrid. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

It has become a norm at this point for Real Madrid to lose one or more key players at the end of every season – and it has more often than not been captains at the end of their contracts.

Having lost Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Nacho Fernandez, and Karim Benzema in recent years, it is now the turn of Dani Carvajal to bid the club of his dreams adieu.

The Spanish full-back has not seen much playing time this season and never quite returned to his former level after the injury he suffered to his knee. With Trent Alexander-Arnold now at the club to replace him, it is time to leave.

Carvajal, thus, will say goodbye to Real Madrid, the Bernabeu, and the club faithful on Sunday night in what will be an emotional affair for the veteran stalwart. 

Alongside him, David Alaba will also bid the fans and the stadium goodbye as his contract approaches expiry and the club have decided against renewing his deal. 

The past two years have not been easy for him either, but one cannot forget how he was a pillar in Real Madrid’s defence a few seasons ago and the impact he had on the team when he was at his best.

Arbeloa’s final game in charge

Alvaro Arbeloa will step down too. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Ahead of the clash against Athletic Club on Sunday night, Real Madrid manager confirmed that he will be leaving the club this summer and will not continue as the manager next season.

The matter was already an open secret for a long time, but his confirmation made it official and also helped him exit the club with grace instead of being shown the door.

Real Madrid are thus heading for a radical change in ideas, tactics and approach with Jose Mourinho set to take over from the current manager next month. This game, in that sense, marks the end of the Arbeloa chapter for the club.

While his tenure at the club was not the most memorable in terms of results, he will always be remembered as a good man-manager who stepped in amid crisis and did a decent job despite it being out of his depth.

His tenure may have begun smoothly with him supporting players in the dressing room and having their backs, but he too got dragged into the dressing room politics towards the end and experienced its wrath, with players no longer maintaining any respect for him.

What can be said about his tenure, however, is that he is a good manager, but he earned the biggest chance of his career at the wrong time with the wrong players.

As was the case with Xabi Alonso, the dressing room made the image of him poorer than it was.

How will the Bernabeu receive Valverde

All eyes will be on Valverde. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Federico Valverde’s fight with Aurelien Tchouameni earlier this month took media outlets by storm and made it clear that Real Madrid’s internal environment is more turbulent than meets the eye.

In the brawl between the two stars, Valverde was supposedly the initiator but also ended up as the more aggrieved party as he was admitted to the hospital for traumatic brain injury after hitting his head against a table.

Irrespective of how the situation was handled internally, the fight did not go down well with the fans and Tchouameni faced their wrath in Real Madrid’s home win against Real Oviedo when he was booed.

Tomorrow, Valverde returns to the field for the first time since that debacle and it will be interesting to see how the bernabeu receives the player or responds to him returning to the field.

It is no secret that Valverde is key to Real Madrid’s midfield plans and that his return must be greeted with cheers by the fans. His behaviour and involvement in the fight, however, may well see him receive a hostile response.

As the captain of Real Madrid, how the audience receive Valverde holds a lot of significance. After all, the club cannot afford any further rifts between the players and the fans.