Xabi Alonso makes his choice clear for key position ahead of El Clasico | OneFootball

Ahead of today’s Clasico, Real Madrid’s XI largely picks itself. The one doubt for Xabi Alonso, however, that continues to spark doubt is the centre-back position.

Eder Militao is assured of a starting position against Barcelona later today, but it is the second central defence position, however, that generates doubts, given that Dean Huijsen is just returning from injury.

The Spaniard last featured for Real Madrid at the beginning of the month and has been out of action through a muscle injury ever since.

Raul Asencio has thus played both games for Los Blancos in his absence, and the manager is faced with a decision of who to hand the start to later today.

Decision made

As relayed in a recent report by AS, everything indicates that it will be Huijsen who returns to the starting XI for the biggest game of the season despite not having featured since the 4th of October.

Asencio’s performances have been convincing and thus made the manager consider him as an option.

Dean Huijsen will start in El Clasico. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The upside with Huijsen, however, is far beyond just his defensive skillset and thus irreplaceable for the manager.

The young centre-back is not only an adept player in his position but a fabulous ball distributor, something that will be crucial against Barcelona.

Further, he has the ability to play out under pressure – a quality that is worth its weight in gold against Barcelona, who press high from the get-go.

The manager’s decision, thus, appears to be very simple, given that Huijsen provides him with a tactically superior profile for the specific matchup. 

The only risk, however, is that the player has not featured for close to a month and may thus be slightly rusty and not at his physical best.

That is, however, the risk Alonso must take if he wishes to utilise Huijsen’s expertise on the night.