Real Madrid emerged as the champions of Europe after beating Borussia Dortmund in the final of the UEFA Champions League 2023-24. This win won the Merengues their 15th UCL title and will remain a part of the club’s history.
The Merengues are now set to play a repeat of this final, as they face the Germans once again in the League Phase of the newly formatted Champions League.
But this time, Los Blancos are expected to have an even more difficult time against Dortmund. One reason for this is that Real Madrid will be without three important players who were pivotal for them in the final, Nacho, Toni Kroos, and Dani Carvajal, for this upcoming game.
The Merengues have announced the squad for this game, and there is only one change in it over the list for their last game against Celta Vigo, i.e. Fran Gonzalez as the third goalkeeper instead of Sergio Mestre.
Real Madrid continue to miss important players like Dani Carvajal and David Alaba and thus have a quite thin defensive line. But Ancelotti is not expected to repeat the three centre-back experiment from the last game, and Lucas Vazquez, Militao, Rudiger, and Mendy are expected to form the team’s backline for this upcoming game.
Bellingham, Tchouameni, Camavinga, and Valverde all seem to be undroppable for Ancelotti, but the team’s creativity has suffered without Luka Modric in the middle of the field. Thus, the Italian will have to make a decision on whom to start and whom to sit out for this game.
Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe are expected to make up the Merengues’ attacking line for this game.
The full squad announced by Real Madrid for this game is as follows:
Goalkeepers:
- 1: Thibaut Courtois
- 2: Andriy Lunin
- 3: Fran Gonzalez
Defenders:
- 1: Eder Militao
- 2: Lucas Vazquez
- 3: Jesus Vallejo
- 4: Fran Garcia
- 5: Antonio Rudiger
- 6: Ferland Mendy
Midfielders:
- 1: Jude Bellingham
- 2: Eduardo Camavinga
- 3: Federico Valverde
- 4: Luka Modric
- 5: Aurelien Tchouameni
- 6: Arda Guler
- 7: Dani Ceballos
Forwards:
- 1: Kylian Mbappe
- 2: Vinicius Junior
- 3: Rodrygo Goes
- 4: Endrick