Zinedine Zidane does not stop accumulating problems to compose his eleven in tomorrow's game Friday (22:00, Movistar LaLiga). To the casualties that he already had in defense of Sergio Ramos, Carvajal and Nacho, Marcelo joined, who did not jump with his teammates to the Valdebebas pitch. Vinicius was not there either. The one who could be seen participating in the rondos with the rest of his companions was Hazard. The Belgian was already at the beginning of the session on Wednesday, although he later finished training by exercising alone.
Marcelo's absence further complicates the puzzle for Zidane to form the defensive line that will face Alavés. Ramos and Carvajal are penalized for having seen the fifth yellow card in Bilbao and Nacho continues to work alone to recover from the muscle injury in the right anterior rectum that has kept him apart since June 8.
With these constraints, Zidane's solution was to form with Militao and Varane as a center pair, Marcelo on the left and Mendy on the right, a position that is not strange to the Frenchman. The winger has already played several times on that flank when he was a Lyon player. Without going any further, Mendy acted for that band in the second part of the game against Eibar, when he replaced Carvajal, who retired with a blow. But the setback with Marcelo in principle leaves Mendy on the left.
Zidane has several alternatives to cover that right back and recompose the defense. First of all, Militao. The Brazilian has already played in that position on visits to Mallorca and Betis and has also played several games with Brazil and Porto, occupying said demarcation. Shifting Militao to the band would give the squad Javi Hernández a debut on the rear axle. Another option for the Real Madrid coach would be to align on the side a Lucas Vazquez, who also has sporadic experiences in that position more delayed for him. A third way would be to keep Mendy in the position expected from the right and give the left back to Javi Hernández..