Three talking points ahead of Alaves vs Real Madrid | La Liga GW 31 | OneFootball

If there was even a remote chance for Real Madrid to cancel or postpone tomorrow’s clash against Alaves, they would have done it in a heartbeat for it comes at the worst possible time.

Los Blancos are stranded between the two legs of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal against Arsenal. The first leg went awry as they ended up with a 3-0 deficit and they have all the work to do midweek at home.

The game against Alaves, however, comes up as the one clash denying them any sort of peace of mind ahead of the critical leg, for it comes with serious implications in the title race.

Moreover, Real Madrid are currently on a two-game losing streak and a third successive defeat would leave them on a terrible run of momentum heading into the big clash.

Madrid Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Deportivo Alaves vs Real Madrid.

Serious problems in defence

It is bizarre that Real Madrid’s administration see no urgent need to reinforce the centre-back position in 2025, for every passing game shows how short-staffed Los Blancos are in the department.

Heading into the weekend’s clash against Alaves, Carlo Ancelotti has big decisions to take over whom to start in defence. Players are, after all, available on paper but practically unavailable.

Antonio Rudiger has been playing through pain this season, especially in his hip and meniscus, and requires as much rest as possible, especially before the team’s most important game of the season.

Raul Asencio, meanwhile, is extremely fatigued as is evident from how Ancelotti has been rotating him regularly. For him to play tomorrow and again midweek is close to impossible and the youngster starting is unlikely.

With both centre-backs practically not usable, the manager must turn to David Alaba and Aurelien Tchouameni in central defence tomorrow in what comes as a worrying development.

The former, after all, is coming off a howler of a display against Arsenal where he was one of the team’s most poor performers.

The latter, meanwhile, has been anything but convincing in defence this season and his pairing with Alaba may leave Real Madrid fragile at the back given their lack of prior minutes together regularly.

Will the coach risk one of Rudiger or Asencio? Or will be trust the French-Austrian duo? Ancelotti’s decision will have a huge bearing on the result.

How much to rotate?

To rotate or not to rotate? (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)

It is clear at this point that all of Real Madrid’s focus is only on the second leg against Arsenal midweek. Keeping that in mind, it has been said that Ancelotti is looking to make wholesale rotations.

The question that naturally arises, thus, is over the extent to which the manager must shuffle his cards at Mendizorroza with the league title race hanging in the balance.

As relayed earlier this week, Ancelotti’s ideal plan is to rest Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham in midfield and the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo Goes in the attack.

Keeping all the aforementioned stars on the bench in addition to the defensive rotations, needless to say, could well end up leaving the team fragile. All signs, however, point to the manager going ahead anyway.

If indeed Ancelotti opts to go all out, it will be Luka Modric and Eduardo Camavinga who fill into the midfield alongside Arda Guler.

In attack, the coach will trust Brahim Diaz and Endrick to seal the game, and the third place in attack remains under question. Rodrygo may enter the dynamics, but there is a chance that the manager fields an extra midfielder to push Guler into the final third.

A big chance to slip-up

At this point in the season, every game is a potential finale and Real Madrid did not do themselves any favours by slipping up horrendously midweek.

With all the focus on the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal now and all resources likely preserved to give a dominant show on Wednesday, Real Madrid stand a real chance of slipping up majorly tomorrow.

Real Madrid have been out of form for a long time now and dropped all three points in their last outing against Valencia. If indeed they field a second-string side against Alaves, they could well drop three more points and make a mess of the title race.

Barcelona, as it stands, are only four points clear of Los Blancos after they failed to capitalise on Real Madrid’s slip-up last week.

Should they win tonight, they will move seven points clear and will maintain that complete advantage if Real Madrid lose against Alaves.

With just seven games to go after the ongoing match-day, that situation would be hopeless for Real Madrid for it would mean that Barcelona could lose El Clasico and another of the six games that remain and still be a point clear.

It is thus vital for Real Madrid to win tomorrow, and managing the league expectations and the Champions League situation is a major challenge for Ancelotti. Will Real Madrid knock themselves out of contention? Only time will tell.